Blood Traitors
by Attack of the Plot Bunny
Summary: It is the 1960s, and everything is about to change. For Bellatrix, Andromeda and Narcissa, there is no going back.
1. Three Mistresses

School Year commencing 1968

Unsurprisingly, the decision of the Black sisters to claim their own train carriage went uncontested. It had become a tradition that other Hogwarts students had picked up on quickly, and were in no rush to amend. Ever since the youngest, Narcissa, had started at the school two years ago, the carriage had seemed to gain its own notoriety as a new family heirloom. At the start and end of every term, Bellatrix would stalk along the platform, her two siblings in toe, and the waves of students would part on instinct. If a group of friends were unfortunate enough to already occupy the carriage, one death stare from the eldest Ms. Black was enough to send them scuttling away to safer compartments of the train. With a trembling house elf ordered to guard the carriage door, Bellatrix would take these train journeys as an opportunity to both question and interrogate her sisters on their academic and extra-curricular plans for the upcoming months.

Andromeda sighed. These bi-termly meetings were never pleasant for anyone involved. Bellatrix would inevitably grow frustrated at the disinterest of her siblings, usually leading her to make a sharp comment, which would then cause Narcissa to fall into a sulk and refuse to co-operate for the rest of the arduously long journey to or from Hogsmeade station. For now, at least, Bellatrix seemed to be leading the conversation in another direction.

"Knowing you two, you are both probably still painfully ignorant of this, but things are going to be changing in the next few years. I've been thinking, and I want to make sure our family ride the crest of the wave, as it were. Considering that I've only got two more years left at Hogwarts, I've decided that it's time that we fully established ourselves – our generation of Blacks – as one cohesive unit...

Andromeda caught Narcissa's eye from across the carriage and smirked. Whilst other witches and wizards were keen to point out the physical similarities of the two eldest sisters, it was with Narcissa that Andromeda was prone to identify. Bellatrix, whilst capable of being incredibly witty and entertaining was, to her sisters at least, disturbingly ambitious in regards to both herself and the Black family legacy. This did not bode well for her thirteen and fourteen year old siblings, who would rather have spend their train journey blowing their first instalment of pocket money on sweets from the candy lady, than listen to the current life manifesto of their sister.

As Andromeda eventually tuned back in to the conversation, she thankfully realised that Bellatrix had moved on from whatever ominous forecasts she had been making, and was now lecturing the girls about their plans for 'social elevation' for the upcoming year.

"You first." She said, directing her eyes on Andromeda. "This will be your fourth year, and as I see it, you haven't yet had any success in carving out an reputation for yourself. What are you going going to do about it?"

"I do have a reputation." Andromeda attempted. "I'm _your_ sister.".

This did manage to make Bellatrix crack a smile, but was not enough to throw her off-course. "Be that as it may, I want all of us to actively create our own profiles. What are you going to do?"

"I do well at school, isn't that enough?" - and so began the yearly torture session in which Bellatrix desperately attempted to think up occupational positions for her overly-reluctant sibling. After Andromeda had disregarded the options of Wizard Chess Club, Intermediate Potions Society, and a volunteer position in the Owlery, amongst others, Bellatrix turned to her with a sense of finality.

"In that case, I don't see any reason why you can't try out for the Slytherin quidditch team this year."

At this point Narcissa actually choked on her water. Andromeda chose to ignore her. Despite their parents investing a substantial amount of money into having the girls privately trained at Quidditch every summer holiday, Andromeda was still nowhere near agile or skilled enough to make a team position. Bellatrix, however, appeared to be wilfully oblivious to this fact.

"Maybe. Will trying out count as an attempt to do something constructive this term?"

"It would be a good start." Bellatrix seemed satisfied, and Andromeda fell back into her seat, content that her grilling, for now, was complete.

"And you, Narcissa?"

Andromeda smiled, bracing herself for a repeat of the last twenty minutes now to be directed at her sister.

"I'm going to get a boyfriend."

It was Andromeda's turn to choke, this time on thin air. "Sorry, what?"

"That's right. I've decided I want a boyfriend this year."

"You're thirteen years old! You're too young to want a boyfriend! Bella, back me up here!"

But Bellatrix chewed her lip, thoughtfully. "I _can_ see the potential"

"Potential for what? Please explain to me why I have to humiliate myself in front of the quidditch team, whilst she gets to bat her eyelashes at her potions partner!"

Bellatrix waved her hand at Andromeda, causing her to go silent. "It's all to do with connections, now more than ever. We need contacts. Allies. A link with another pure-blood family would always be beneficial."

Narcissa, by this point, was positively radiating glee from the expression on Andromeda's face. At Bellatrix's final sentence, however, she threw her hands in the air in dismay.

"Oh no" She cried dramatically, staring at Bellatrix in horror. "But I was planning on seducing Caradoc Dearborn, whatever shall I do now!"

Bellatrix laughed and batted her sister round the head. "Don't be disgusting" She said. "But there are plenty of options for you around. It would just be particularly helpful if you could get a boy from a family who isn't currently affiliated with us."

"Arthur Weasley?" Andromeda volunteered, already expecting Narcissa's schoolbag to come colliding with her head, which sure enough, it did.

"Eww I couldn't think of anything worse!" Narcissa shrieked. "He's like a dandelion, and besides, he's _old. _Even I couldn't manage that."

"But think of the flock of ginger children you could have."

"It would probably destroy the Black genetic code" Bellatrix snorted. "Don't worry, little sister, we'll have you set up with a eligible suitor soon enough".

Narcissa looked smugly across at Andromeda, who exhaled, exasperated. The door to the carriage suddenly opened, causing Bellatrix to whip around, casting a filthy expression at doorway's occupant. It was Wookey, the current Black Family house elf.

"Ex...Excuse me, mademoiselles, I just needed to inform you that the train will be arriving in twenty minutes."

"Is that so?" Bellatrix smiled sweetly, yet her eyes were blazing with anger. "You do remember, Wookey, that you are supposed to knock before entering a room?"

"Oh.. yes, ma'am. Of course. I'm so terribly sorry, it will never happen again. You have that on Wookey's word. So sorry, ma'am"

"That's ok, Wookey". By now, Bellatrix's voice was sickeningly honey-coated. "I believe you. We all make mistakes. Just remember never to do it again or it might make someone angry. We wouldn't want that, would we?"

"No ma'am, not at all."

"Well, now that's cleared up, you are free to retain your position outside the carriage."

"Of course, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am"

As the house-elf scampered back outside, closing the door behind him, Bellatrix turned to her sisters, all traces of a smile eradicated.

"Repulsive things, aren't they? I'll send a letter to father tonight and with any luck we'll have a new plaque at Grimmauld Place by next week."

Both her sisters laughed, but neither one was genuine. Wookey had been one of the more diligent house elves in recent years, and they would be sorry to see him go.

As the train started to slow down, the girls started to gravitate towards the window. With all three faces pressed up to the glass, they could all see the station coming into view. The sight of the castle in the near distance still sent excited trembles down their spines, despite their familiarity with the place. In spite of the luxury and grandeur of the Black Family Manor, Hogwarts felt like home to the sisters. Perhaps it was because of the countless family members roaming the estate at any given time, or the distinct lack of people their own age, but each sister felt more comfortable at the school than at home, or indeed any of the family residences.

The train finally pulled into the station. The three girls exited the carriage and made their way towards the train doors; the house-elf, laden with hand-luggage, hurrying behind. As they stepped onto the platform, Narcissa, who was last of the trio to disembark, almost fell through onto the railway tracks, as the students in front of her had come to a standstill. From somewhere ahead, she heard Bellatrix's revolted voice ring out over the crowd.

"Someone do inform me - because I am somewhat incredulous right now - what on earth is _that_ doing here?"


	2. The Times, they are a Changin'

Chapter Two

The Times, they are a Changin'

Winter Term, 1968

Narcissa yawned as Bellatrix finally neared the end of her fourty minute tirade, conducted from the stone podium in the Slytherin common room. Since the near riot at Hogsmeade station, it was all anyone could talk about. Bellatrix, naturally, had spearheaded the dissenters and seemed fixed on conscripting the entire house to her cause.

"We cannot, and we _will _not, allow this type of overly liberalised policy to continue. I don't need to remind you that this is a school, not a zoo, and half-breeds have never been welcome here. I've heard that he cooks and eats wild creatures from the forbidden forrest. What next? What happens if he goes too far? Will it be the students next time? This is not an issue about equality. This is an issue about health and safety. The half-giant needs to go."

"He used to be a student here. They chucked him out because he 'accidentally' killed a girl" Rita, another of Bellatrix's posse, piped up. This new revelation threw the common room into a state of pandemonium, with students everywhere vowing to send angry owls to their parents before the night was out. Narcissa stretched out her legs, not particularly stirred by the evening's indoctrination. She had witnessed enough of Bellatrix's speeches to last a lifetime, and whilst most people were utterly captivated by her oratory skills, she had reached a stage of indifference. Watching groups of students hurry over to Bellatrix to offer their services to this new campaign, Narcissa turned to her friend Alice, who sat beside her.

"Want to go to the dorms? I still haven't shown you the dress I brought for the Christmas formal. It's one of a kind – Daddy managed to pull a couple of strings with some contacts, so it's specially cut to fit and everything"

Alice didn't seem to register what Narcissa had just said. Her chin was rested on her hands, and he was slumped forwards, as if in deep thought.

"Alice? Hello? Anyone home?"

"Hmm... oh. Yes, yes of course, that sounds like a good idea" Alice mumbled, her dark eyes still gazing somewhere into the mid-distance. Narcissa didn't miss this.

"Is everything alright? You seem a little... distracted"

"Oh no, no I'm fine." Alice hesitated, unsure of how to continue. She pushed on, speaking slowly. "It's just... don't you think your sister... She... well"

Narcissa laughed. "Alice. Come on. You've been my friend for two whole years. You should have realised that you can say what you like about either of my sisters. I certainly do."

Alice looked up, shocked. "No, I didn't mean anything like that – Bellatrix is really smart, and beautiful, and I would never think -"

"Alright, alright, I didn't ask for a gushing appraisal either"

"No that's not what I mean! It's just... what she was saying earlier, did it not seem a little... problematic to you?" Alice became more uncomfortable than ever, and began to fiddle with her tie relentlessly. Narcissa laughed.

"Alice, sweetheart, in my opinion everything Bellatrix has ever said is, as you put it, 'a little problematic'. Don't worry about it, that's just who she is."

Alice laughed, her voice slightly higher pitched than usual. Narcissa grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to her feet.

"Come on, I want to show you all my new clothes. I have loads, you can probably borrow them if you like. Except don't tell mummy because she gets very possessive over family property, and I don't want to get in trouble"

The wind hadn't helped, Andromeda reminded herself. It wasn't _entirely_ her fault that she had made a complete idiot of herself during the quidditch try-outs. It had been very windy, and everyone had found it excessively difficult to maintain control over their brooms. It was just that she had found it more difficult than everyone else. Andromeda's preferred quidditch position was chaser, mainly because she could rely on her teammates to cover up her weaknesses on the pitch. However, when you are passed a quaffle and asked to shoot it in 90 km/h winds, there's no way of concealing an utter lack of skill at the sport. In fact, Andromeda had got closer to the goals than her quaffle ever did, as an unexpected swipe of cold air had sent her right into one of the goal posts, almost knocking her of her broom and thus ending the try-out on a very painful note. The captain, a tall, lean girl with long wiry hair, had grimaced throughout the whole episode, but had at least allowed Andromeda to return to the changing room immediately, curtailing her moment of public embarrassment.

She pulled on her school boots, and hastily stuffed the remainder of her quidditch uniform back into the scruffy kit bag. Her parents bought her an entirely new set of school equipment every year, but the new kit bag sat abandoned somewhere in a side compartment of her trunk. Andromeda had not yet been able to dignify taking it out. Her family heritage was something she was immensely proud of, but unveiling a kit bag bearing the Black family crest seemed to be a new level of pretentiousness, and she reasoned that enough people mistook her for being exactly like her sisters as it was. She didn't need flashy new equipment to further enforce this assumption.

Trudging slowly back towards the castle, she wondered how she would explain the results of the try out to Bellatrix, without sending her sister, fuming, towards the team captain to give her a piece of her mind. She needed a distraction, something to make her look like she was too busy for Bellatrix's remaining ideas. A project. Of course, a project! Andromeda breathed a sigh of relief. Why didn't she think of it earlier? An extra-curricular academic project would be perfect. She could take out some books from the library, and as long as she was seen reading them, ideally in a public place, Bellatrix would be sure to leave her alone. Actually completing the project would be of far less concern.

By the time she reached the entrance hall, she had worked out exactly what she needed to do. She headed straight for the dungeon, fixing her hair as she went. Passing by the potions classrooms, she thought it strange, how they became so quiet later in the evening. The school felt cold, almost empty, without the herds of students rushing between classes. But it was late, and she knew that most students would be wrapped up warmly in their various dormitories, far away from the storm that was beginning to develop outside. Reaching the potions office, she hesitated slightly, before lifting her hand and tapping lightly at the door. She didn't quite know why she felt nervous – aside from being head of slytherin, Professor Slughorn was also her potions teacher, and appeared to have taken a liking to her.

The door swung open, and Professor Slughorn stood, dressed in a large, printed smoking jacket, with a pipe hanging from his lips. Recognising Andromeda, he promptly removed the pipe, and beamed.

"Why, if it isn't the young Miss Black! Come in, come in. Is there anything with which I can help you?" He gestured her inside, and Andromeda followed his suggestion, willing the smile on her face not to become fixed. She didn't much like lying, especially not to someone who had always been so kind to her. Slughorn drew up two armchairs using his wand, and at his prompting, they both took a seat.

"Thank-you, Professor – sorry for calling so late, I really don't want to be any bother"

"Not at all, not at all. On the contrary, your arrival has just reminded me of a matter involving your very person. But that can wait. What can I do for you on this fine stormy evening?"

"Well, I was wondering, considering it's my fourth year now, and I really need to start focusing for my OWLS, whether it would be worth taking on an independent project? I was hoping that you could commission something for me?"

"Why dear Andromeda, we've barely finished the first week of term! You should be out reacquainting yourself with your friends, not taking on extra schoolwork!"

Andromeda tensed at these words. It wasn't that she was unpopular, indeed her blood status meant that she was always treated with respect by other students, but she didn't really have any close friends. The reputation of Bellatrix had preceded her arrival at Hogwarts, and though she socialised with the other fourth year Slytherins, she wasn't particularly close to any of them. They subconsciously held her at arm's length, as if she would one day explode at them, in the same manner Bellatrix occasionally did. Truth be told, Andromeda wasn't even sure much much she actually minded this state of things. Ever since her childhood, where rumours of dissent had rumbled across the wizarding world, all anyone ever wanted to talk about was magical policy. Given the hardline conservative attitude of her family, she never felt especially comfortable engaging in these sorts of conversation in the first place.

Slughorn noticed her silence, and Andromeda would later wonder whether he had also gaged the implication behind it. Regardless, he decided to pick up from where he had left off.

"However, I would be a fool not to capitalise on a student's interest in academic study. So long as it doesn't contain any cause for..." He trailed off, lost in thought. "But tell me, do you have a specific topic in mind? I would hope that you would be considering a potions-related theme?"

"Oh." Andromeda faltered. She had not actually had time to come up with a concrete objective for the project. "No. Not yet."

"Allow me to throw out a few suggestions then. You're a bright young girl, have always done very well in my classes, so we should choose something challenging for you. Not too challenging, mind, but something you can spend a couple of months working on. And you're about to start work on your OWLS. Let me see... some of the work I'm setting for the NEWT classes might fit the bill, considering that you'll have a much longer time frame. Scintillation solution? No, that's too straight-forward. Murtlap Essence, Manegro?"

Andromeda let him continue, not at all understanding what he was saying. Suddenly, he paused, eyes brightening. "By george I think I've got it. Draught of the Living Death. How does that sound?"

The name was vaguely familiar to her, so Andromeda nodded. "That sounds interesting".

"Very well. I'll leave it up to you to choose upon a name and question for the project, but with that draught as your primary potion, I'm sure any portfolio you could produce would be highly interesting. I look forward to it's arrival."

"Thank-you, professor. I'll do that." Andromeda stood up, readying herself for departure. Slughorn rose with her, a new thought materialising on his face.

"And before I forget" he cut in, "I'm having a little get together next Friday, with some of the students, and a couple of outside guests. I would love for you to come along. Actually, I could even introduce you to a couple of students whom I think you'd like."

Andromeda froze, and then frantically worked to stop her lips from turning upwards. She was fairly certain that she had just been invited to the Slug Club. The Slug Club! After three years of study and no invite, she had been sure that she would never follow in Bellatrix's footsteps as a member.

"That would be lovely."

"Wonderful! I'll send out formal invitations tomorrow, but it will most likely be at 8pm on Friday. In the Potions classroom, not here. I detest having to take guests into this water-closet of an office.

'Thank-you Professor. I look forward to it!" Andromeda said, before turning to leave the room. She briefly wondered about his wording. '_I could even introduce you to a couple of students'. _Was this invite his method of taking pity on her social isolation? Whilst it may be true, she reasoned, an invite to the Slug Club, under any circumstances, was better than no invite to the Slug Club. An independent project and a Slug Club invitation. Bellatrix was going to be ecstatic.

**A/N: If you're reading this, thanks for getting this far! It's been a long time since I posted chapter one, but it's the holidays now, which should mean lots of time for writing. Please tell me what you think so far - I always appreciate feedback. Also, I'm planning on working with a large range of characters and events, so do please tell me if there's anyone or anything you'd like me to focus on more in future, as I'll bear all those comments in mind when writing. Thank-you so much, and if you like it, please feel free to review/favourite/follow!**


	3. The Boy in the Library

Chapter Three

The Boy in the Library

Winter Term, 1968

It was a dangerous plan, but Andromeda had long since decided that it was absolutely worth the risk. She sat on the edge of Bellatrix's bed in the Sixth Year Dormitory, whilst her older sister paced around the room, running her hand through cascades of dark hair.

"And it was awful, Bella, it really was. I completely messed up."

"Look, I'm not happy this happened, but Quidditch is Quidditch, and we all know you've had training, so hopefully people will just forget about it, and we'll find something else for -"

"No, they won't forget it. I was atrocious. I even heard them laughing about it in the changing room afterwards -" Andromeda had already reduced Bellatrix to a state of panic, but was yet to deliver the final blow. One of the benefits of full-time interaction with her sister was that she knew exactly how to rile her up. She took in a breath, preparing herself.

"I just feel... I don't know, Bella, the way they reacted – I just feel like I've brought shame upon the family name!"

It worked perfectly. Bellatrix turned, eyes blazing. Thankfully, Andromeda had been right in the assumption that she would not be the target of her sister's anger.

"How dare they! Who are these people to think that of us? Yes, the team are all pure-blood, but I'm fairly certain most of them are what I would call '_new _magic'. Don't they realise the amount of respect they should be paying to an ancient, elite, wizarding bloodline like ours. I mean, we're one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight! You shouldn't have put up with it Andromeda. You should have blasted that girl – what's she called? The captain, Dahlia Flaxwielder? Flaxwinder? - to high heaven. In fact, I might just do it for you."

"Whoah, whoah, it's fine, no need for that" Andromeda leapt up, obstructing Bellatrix from grabbing her wand from the bedside counter, which she was reaching for with a wild glint in her eye.

"No, Andromeda, it's not fine. It's anything _but _fine. You, me and Narcissa, we need to stick together. We can't let anyone exploit our weaknesses."

Having Dahlia Flaxwielder subjected to a stinging hex, courtesy of an enraged Bellatrix, was not part of the plan. Andromeda quickly decided to skip a few steps ahead, before chaos ensued across the Slytherin living quarters.

"I'm not listening to this anymore. Don't get involved with my problems." She declared, abruptly standing up from the bed. Then, in a perfectly executed move, Andromeda leant over and picked up her school-bag from the floor, leaving the flap open just a little, allowing a snatch of gold to become visible as she slung it over her shoulder. Bellatrix, being highly observant, spotted it at once.

"What have you got in your bag?"

"None of your business" Andromeda marched over to the door. Bellatrix blocked her, snarling.

"Dear sister, please tell me why you have my Slug Club invitation hidden in your school bag."

"It's not your Slug Club invitation"

Bellatrix was on the verge of a full-out rage, but Andromeda decided to push her just a little further.

"Yes it is. You've stolen it. Give it back before I hurt you"

"It's not yours"

"Yes it is!"

"No it's -" Andromeda was cut off as Bellatrix flew at her, using one hand to push her chin towards the ceiling, thus drastically impairing her sight range, whilst using the other to grab at the letter in her bag. After a brief struggle, she drew it out, triumphantly.

"Mine!" Bellatrix shrieked, waving the envelope in the air. Andromeda dropped her pretence, smirking.

"Oh really? So what's that gold envelope on your text books, then?"

"That's not... I don't..." Bellatrix stammered, going over to her desk to investigate. Sure enough, the gold letter, astride her pile of Defence Against the Dark Arts books, was addressed, in it's familiar swirling calligraphy, to _Ms. Bellatrix Black. _Bellatrix stared at it for a moment, then re-addressed the envelope in her hand. As she read it, her mouth dropped open, and she instantly looked over to Andromeda. The younger of the sisters had since returned to her position, curled up on the bed, looking incredibly smug.

"I told you it wasn't yours"

Bellatrix didn't even reply. Instead, she leapt onto her bed next to her sister, grabbing her and squealing with excitement, whilst Andromeda laughed at the sudden mood change. After a few moments, Bellatrix pulled her into a bear hug, still delighted.

"You finally got an invite!"

"I know!"

Then, a little quieter. "I'm so proud of you"

At this, Andromeda felt a little twitch somewhere deep inside her chest. Despite the crazy amount of pressure that Bellatrix liked to exert on her younger family members, it really did feel good when you managed to get something right. Andromeda resolved on the spot to maintain a better, less resentful relationship with her sister. She always forgot how nice it was when they had the opportunity to bond in a relaxed, teenage atmosphere, rather than over the silent dinner table at home.

"Does this mean we have to colour co-ordinate our robe linings on Friday?" She joked, the sound coming out muffled from Bellatrix's shoulder. Immediately, Bellatrix released her, eyes alert.

"Oh goodness, that hadn't even occurred to me! Yes, I suppose we should. Actually, it's probably worth going down to Hogsmeade beforehand to get you some new clothes, seeing as you'll want to make a good first impression. I wonder if -" Bellatrix rattled on, oblivious to the eye-roll directed towards her. It seemed that the old power-hungry, ultra-ambitious, hyper-vigilant Bellatrix that she had come to know and love couldn't be contained for long.

Narcissa Black did not take losing easily. If that idiot Slughorn wouldn't invite her to the Slug Club, that was his own loss. She didn't need it, or him, or any of those useless students who went there, she presumed, to make the most of the free sugar-mice and make awkward conversation with old alumni. No, she was better than that, and more importantly, she was going to one-up both her sisters. Grabbing her friends Alice and Ophelia, she strode towards the front of the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. They both resisted, confused at her behaviour.

"Where are you going? We always sit over here?"

"Just go with it. I have a plan and I need you to come with me"

"Narcissa..."

"Oh, hey guys, is it alright if we sit here? Okay, great, thanks so much, that's so nice of you" Narcissa chattered as she planted herself and her entourage right in the middle of a group of increasingly confused boys. These boys made up the majority of the male Slytherins in her year, and as such she was not at all nervous around them. The same could not be said for the boys themselves, who, at the grand age of thirteen, were unable to do much but gawp at the three pretty girls who had just invaded their dinner time. Travers, a plump boy with round eyes and greasy hair, made the first attempt to verbally acknowledge them.

"Why?" It wasn't great, but it was a start. Narcissa, however, didn't miss a beat.

"I thought it was time we started hanging out properly. You know, as a group... A group... Of friends."

The boys stared at her in bewilderment, the girls with horror. She smiled, reaching out to ladle soup into her bowl, the epitome of calmness.

"I'm Narcissa, by the way"

"We know." She glanced up, to see who had managed to successfully reply to a word she'd spoken. It was Tarquin McTavish, a rather scrawny, red-haired boy, with horribly bad acne. Acne, she considered, that she could probably fix within an hour or so. Perhaps there was hope after all. He shoved a slice of bread into his mouth, before continuing, crumbs spilling back onto the table.

"We know who you are. You're a Black, so we all know."

"That's right" She simpered, trying hard to ignore the orange soup stain dripping off his chin.

"McTavish." He grunted. The rest of the group looked on in stunned fascination.

"So I've heard." Narcissa replied. "Tarquin McTavish. Didn't you blow up the charms cupboard in your first year?" At this, the boys sniggered. McTavish shot them a filthy look and they all become absorbed in the meals in front of them.

"It was a dare" He mumbled, the sudden lack of eye-contact immediately exposing his fabrication.

"Well I think that's very courageous of you, Tarquin McTavish."

An expression of shock passed over his face. "Really? - I mean yeah, yeah it was. I risked a lot to do it, they could have even thrown me out of Hogwarts. But you know me, I never chicken out of anything. Yeah."

"That's good to hear. So we're dating now?"

"Yeah. Wait, what!?" The whole segment of the table were watching them now, absolutely gripped by the strange scene playing out in front of them. Even some of the fifth years, with whom Narcissa never talked, were peering over in interest.

"Dating. You and me. Good? Good."

"Good...?" McTavish stuttered, not quite knowing what to do. Travers's beef dish was slowly escaping from his mouth, which was now fully agape.

"Wonderful. So did you hear the allegations about Hufflepuff Quaffle-Pocking in the match yesterday? I wouldn't be surprised. They'd need a miracle to win otherwise, considering their new line-up."

And so the conversation adapted to a steady pace, although McTavish didn't seem able to stop giving Narcissa incredulous glances from across the table.

Andromeda glanced out the window as she hurried up to the third floor. It was getting late, but she thought she had enough time to take out a couple of books from the library before it closed. After revealing her invite to the Slug Club, Bellatrix had forced her into recounting her entire meeting with Slughorn to the exact detail. Upon hearing of the independent project, her sister, of course, had been delighted, and had demanded that she should get started immediately. A couple of books, Andromeda reasoned, would be enough to look like work for the moment, and it was hardly much effort to find a few relevant text books from the hundreds of shelves across the two floors.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she strode into the library, ready to grab the first books she could find with a passage on Draught of the Living Death, check them out, return to Slytherin and curl up on her bed, ignoring all her responsibilities for the rest of the day. It sounded like a good plan. Except for one tragic flaw. Despite the countless books the library contained, she could not find a single one which contained any relevant information. Had Slughorn done this deliberately, knowing that she had wanted an easy distraction, thus assigning her a subject that seemed almost impossible to research without due care? She thought they had an understanding. Apparently not. With her admiration for the professor sinking by the second, she continued rifling through each book individually, occasionally getting smothered by a think layer of dust. A lot of these books were very old, and their material covers relatively damaged. Remembering a dinner party a few years ago, at which Charis Crouch, the school librarian and also one of her many aunts, had complained excessively about students mistreating her books, Andromeda took care to take out and replace each book with consideration, which further slowed down her pursuit of the Drought.

After some time of flicking through books, each one more unhelpful than the last, she slowly became aware that she was being watched. Irritated, she continued searching. The observer, whoever it was, was still there. Out of the side of her eye, she could see him fidgeting, nervously. He was going to come over, wasn't he? _Please don't come over. _Nope, there he was, coming straight towards her. Great. On top of not being able to find one single bloody book, she was going to get bothered by some unknown student. Exactly what she always dreamed of.

"Sorry – I was just watching you -" _of course you were _"And I was wondering if there was anything I could help you with?"

Andromeda made a very poor effort to conceal her sigh, and without looking up from the large leather-bound encyclopaedia she was currently scanning, rattled off her standard answer.

"No thank you. I'm perfectly capable of using the library by myself". This time she didn't even bother to hide the boredom in her voice.

"Oh, okay, that's fine." Came the disembodied voice from behind her. A moments hesitation, and then "Only I need to close up in fifteen minutes, and you've been here since seven, and you still look a bit... lost."

She'd been here for almost an hour? The words made Andromeda look up at the boy who was still awkwardly standing by her. Instantly she spotted the 'Library Assistant' badge attached to his cloak, and felt a bit bad for the way in which she'd brushed him off. Only a little bit, mind, considering that as a general rule she much preferred being left alone. He was tall, with mousy blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He cleared his throat, and she realised that he was waiting for her to say something. Trying not to look like a complete library-illiterate fool, she climbed to her feet, pointedly ignoring the hand he offered to assist her.

"Yes, actually. If I've only got fifteen minutes, then you might as well help me."

"What are you looking for?"

"Draught of the Living Death. Except it's not anywhere, and I've been checking pretty thoroughly."

"Did you look in the Potions area?"

"Of course I looked in the Potions area! It was the first place I went to; I'm not entirely stupid."

The boy instantly looked horrified, and frantically waved his arms, as if trying to bat his previous statement away. "No, no, I didn't mean... It's just, if it's anywhere, it should be in Potions."

He started to hurry off towards to the Potions area again, leaving Andromeda to trail after him. "I think, somewhere on this shelf..." He thought out loud, bringing his wand out his pocket and using it to summon a ladder from further down the aisle. "I suppose it didn't help that the sixth years are doing it for their exams; they've probably already started stockpiling, which Madame Crouch hates" He commented, picking out a dirty stack of parchment tied together with string, and discarding it just as quickly.

"I can imagine" Andromeda chuckled, remembering the gusto with which Charis had recounted one such incident.

Interested, the boy twisted around to look at her. "Do you know her?"

Andromeda, not willing to get into a proper conversation with this strange boy, especially not about her personal life, assumed her best poker face. "She's my aunt". He didn't miss the switch in tone, and became increasingly flustered, turning back to the books.

"Oh. Okay. She's nice. I mean, she's not too bad, considering. Sorry, Living Death. Still looking. Not seeing. Not seeing at all." He slotted three books back into position, defeated. "But with Draught of Living Death - bearing in mind the side effects – well, the main effects too, come to think of it – there's probably more material in the restricted section – wait, where are you going?"

Andromeda glanced back over her shoulder, already several paces away from him. "To the restricted section", she said as she carried on walking.

"Wait – no! Stop! You need a signature to get in there!" The boy shouted, scrambling haphazardly down the ladder, missing several steps as he went.

"The librarian is my aunt" Andromeda called back to him. "She won't mind."

"No, but -"

Andromeda approached the rope to the restricted section. A portrait of Valeria Myriadd hung nearby, and the commotion had just woken her up. The portrait scowled at Andromeda, tugging her fur cloak up around her shoulders indignantly. The boy caught up with her, gasping for breath from his hasty descent down the ladder.

"You need a signature!"

"No I don't. I'll just ask Charis. Where is she?"

The boy faltered, which Andromeda took as a good sign.

"She... she had to clock off early today. I've been left in charge of closing up."

The portrait took a look at them both, and sniggered. "Good luck with that one"

Andromeda saw the opportunity and was quick to take it. There was no guarantee that Aunt Charis would have actually let her into the restricted section, but this boy had no reason to know that. She gave him her brightest smile, and edged towards the rope.

"Oh, that's fine, I can just tell her tomorrow that I've gone in to collect a few books, she won't mind at all". The boy's sudden expression of distrust made her think that the smile had perhaps been a step too far. "So if you just point out a couple of books, I'll check them out and be on my way."

"I really can't..."

"You really can."

The boy glanced around the library, and deciding that the coast was clear, readdressed her.

"Okay fine. But I'm coming with you, and I'm only going to get you one book, because I think I remember there being one the other day. But for Merlin's sake _please _don't touch anything."

The portrait tutted and made an underhanded remark as the boy lifted up the rope and gestured Andromeda underneath. As if by instinct, he raised his arm to guide her through the section, but moments before he touched her elbow, he thought better of it and dropped his arm to his side. As Andromeda attempted to get a good look at the books lining every shelf, he quickly directed her through to an enclave, where he dived at a pile of books waiting to be re-stocked.

"Aha! Got it!" He proclaimed, holding up a copy of 'Moste Potente Potions'. "I knew I'd seen it somewhere, it only got returned the other day."

Before Andromeda had the chance to consider thanking him, he was off again, couriering the book out of the restricted section and over to the check-out counter. By the time she caught up with him, he had already finished processing it. Holding the book out, he explained "Unfortunately it's only a week's rental, which means that you'll either have to return or renew it by Thursday. That wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that Madame Crouch will remember everything taken from the restricted section for at least the previous 30 days, so she'll know you took it without permission. So if you take this, you have to promise that you'll give it to me to return or renew when I'm working a shift here, otherwise we'll both get into deep trouble. Agreed?"

"Yes, of course" Andromeda relented, grabbing at the book. He swiped it away from her, holding it out of her reach.

"You have to promise that you'll remember to give it to me and not to Madame Crouch!"

"Okay, I promise, I promise, just give me the damn book".

He passed her the book, and pretended not to laugh when the weight of it nearly toppled her off-balance. Not quite knowing whether to say thank you, or goodbye, she settled instead for a half smile, and made her way out of the library, book balanced against her chest with both arms.

Later, when she was back in the comfort of her dormitory, she idly flicked over the cover to see how useful this book actually was. On the inside page was the rental list of all former students who had taken out this particular edition, and she noted with interest that it had been in circulation since 1892. Scanning down the list of names, she spotted many familiar surnames, although no person whom she directly knew. At the bottom, in neat black ink, was the name Andromeda Black, alongside the date. It suddenly occurred to her that she had never introduced herself to the boy in the library, and evidently she hadn't needed to. And who on earth was he? She was relatively sure that she had never seen him in her life; clearly he didn't rotate in the same social circles that she did, inside or outside of Hogwarts. Never mind, she could always ask him next week, when she came to renew the book.

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Chapter three is where several long-running story arcs get set in motion, so I hope you're enjoying it. I always appreciate feedback so if you have anything at all - SPG notes, favourite parts / characters, constructive criticism, predictions for the future, requests for the future, do let me know! I'd love to hear from you. As always, please feel free to favourite and follow. **


	4. Betrayal

Chapter Four

Betrayal

Winter Term, 1968

The twelve students sat at the circular table, watching the concealed dishes with interest. Andromeda wondered whether any of the others were also new additions to the slug club this year. She briefly considered asking Bellatrix, who sat rigidly next to her, her back as straight as a chalk board. Bellatrix would have spotted any new faces from a mile off, but the uncomfortable silence of the room meant that there was no way of communicating with her without being overheard by the entire group. Thankfully, Professor Slughorn chose that moment to re-enter the potions classroom, which had been decorated in a way Andromeda could have never previously imagined. Every stain had disappeared, the floors were now carpeted in a luxurious shade of green, and glowing white candles floated around the table in a smooth circular motion.

Slughorn took his seat, and looked around at his newly formed group, beaming.

"Why so silent? After all, this is a party, not a wake!"

To the relief of the rest of the group, Goyle, a large boy with a permanently squinting expression, immediately spoke up. 'Honestly Sir, I think we were just too distracted by whatever's in those dishes in front of us. It smells fantastic."

This comment was successful in breaking the ice in the room, and the atmosphere instantly relaxed. Andromeda was not surprised, however, to feel Bellatrix tense beside her. She had heard enough stories about Goyle and the Slug Club to know that Bellatrix considered him a direct rival. Aside from also coming from a ancient magical bloodline, Goyle was also one of the brightest students in the school, and an incredible social operator. It was privately agreed amongst other students that he was likely to end up with a high-ranking position in the Ministry, if not the minister's post itself. Bellatrix, being very competitive, seethed at all of this, and only maintained a civil relationship with him for the sake of her own social position in the wizarding community.

Andromeda had to question why a sixteen year old girl even bothered to consider her 'position in the wizarding community'. They had their pure-blood heritage, they went to Hogwarts, wasn't that enough?

Slughorn had started asking several members about their summer holidays, and it didn't take long for Andromeda to establish that these must be last year's selection. She already knew Alice Selwyn, who was a friend of Narcissa. Eldred Worple, who sat to Alice's right, briefly summarised a family tour across the Scandinavian regions in search of mythical creatures. A dark-haired boy she didn't recognise, but learned was called Frank, recounted visiting his father's office in the Ministry. Barnabas Cuffe, who had just entered his seventh year, told Slughorn with great excitement about an internship at the Daily Prophet. From his casual name-dropping of half the paper's reporters, it became clear that Slughorn himself had been instrumental in securing said internship, and Cuffe was evidently keen to show his appreciation, as he prattled on for a good twenty-minutes. Fortunately, during this time, the rest of the food arrived at the table, and Andromeda contented herself with quietly eating steak and kidney pie.

Wendy Slinkhard was the only other girl from 4th Year, and Andromeda suspected that this was who Slughorn intended to 'friendship-match' her with. She already knew that his idea was fruitless; Wendy came from a group of Hufflepuff girls who kept very much to themselves, and tended to look on others with distaste. Andromeda had no intention whatsoever of attempting to befriend her.

Refocusing on the conversation, she became aware that Bellatrix and Goyle had entered some sort of showdown over who could provide the most gripping account of their summer escapades. It was worrying, to some extent, to see Bellatrix act in such an earnestly friendly manner.

"I tell you sir, the sheer amount of people in Black Manor over the summer was extraordinary. We had to bring in extra house-elves just to deal with day-to-day living. But the people we met -"

"- Oh I remember" Goyle cut in, "Our family visited one time. Though we spent the rest of the summer visiting relatives in Denmark, and the social crowd over there, let me tell you -"

"-Don't the Danish have a reputation for being especially plain? We had travellers from all over, and -"

"-Even met a Unicorn Breeder, one time. Absolutely loaded, naturally. He even told me that -"

And so it went on. And on. And on. At one point, Andromeda sighed a little too dramatically, accidentally catching the attention of a boy she vaguely knew: Ambrosius Flume, another Hufflepuff. His family were notorious for giving splendid dinner parties, which Andromeda occasionally had the luck to attend. She paused, worried whether he would take offence at her boredom, but to her luck he grinned, and mimed stabbing his wand in his eye. She stifled a snort, and spent the next few minutes staring steadfastly at her plate, willing her face muscles to return to their neutral position. At least she perhaps had one ally here.

"And to our newest additions!" Andromeda's head snapped up at the sound of Slughorn's voice. "I shan't give you the pressure of a personal introduction, so allow me to present you to the rest of our little club. This here, of course, is Andromeda Black – as if we could ever doubt your relation to your sister! And this fine young gentleman, you may already know, is Lucius Malfoy – naturally I've come across a lot of your family in my time; we really must trade stories..."

Andromeda stared at Malfoy. She suddenly didn't feel so judgemental of Bella's attitude towards Goyle, after all. Malfoy was also in her year, and somehow his presence took away from her accomplishment of getting a Slug Club invite. Most of the students were either invited to the Slug Club early, or not at all, and she had felt quite proud of her late breakthrough. The smug expression on Malfoy's face suggested a similar outlook, which irritated her. He wasn't even that good at school; he just came from an esteemed bloodline, and yes, was mildly attractive in the conventional sense. Not that she was interested in him. He was rude and obnoxious and just a little bit creepy. Anyone who dared comparing her to this smug-faced intruder was going to regret it for a long time.

However, Slughorn turned his attention to the twins. The twins were small and silent, and only in the first year. The Carrow twins, interestingly, had not spoken all evening, aside from the occasional monosyllabic response. They both sat attentively, but absolutely withdrawn from conversation. They didn't appear shy, or nervous, just unwilling to socialise. Even after some friendly questioning from Slughorn, they only gave away minimal details about themselves. Andromeda would be curious to see whether they were invited back next time. Actually, she also wondered whether _she_ would be invited back next time. Realising that she had left most of the talking to Bellatrix, she resolved to use dessert as an opportunity to get her foot in the door.

It didn't take long for her to subtly move the conversation to Quidditch. Even if she wasn't good enough for a team position, she was still a reasonably competent player, and what's more, a passionate spectator. Luckily, the Blacks had attended several recent national championship games, which she discussed with avid interest. It helped, of course, that the players of the winning team often received an invite to Black Manor, and as such she was very well educated in Quidditch politics. After a rather fraught argument with Malfoy, who stupidly declared that the Holyhead Harpies didn't even deserve a place in the championship, Goyle switched the conversation back around to school matches.

"Did you hear about Dahlia getting dropped as Slytherin captain? Poor girl, she was crying for hours in the girl's dorms"

Andromeda slowly turned to stare at Bellatrix, whose face was so poker straight that she knew she was guilty.

"Really? What happened?" Wendy chimed in.

"Noone's really sure. She just walked in one day, and said she needed to be taken off her captaincy. Stuart's been pulled in to replace her."

Andromeda hoped that Bellatrix could feel the death glare she was sending her.

"That's so awful! But I can't understand why"

Bellatrix cut in "Well maybe she has other things to worry about. Schoolwork, or hobbies, or -"

"But Quidditch _was _her hobby. It was her life! I heard she wanted to play professionally -"

"It must have been a family issue then. It's rather rude of you, Wendy, to go nosing into other people's business like that"

This silenced Wendy instantly. The wrath of Bellatrix, even from over a dining table, was enough to force most people into submission.

"Lumos". Hidden under the bedsheets, Narcissa checked her pocket watch using the small light emitting from her wand. Alice should have come back to the dormitory some time ago, and she was desperate to hear a full run-down of the evening. Even if she was partially insulted that she still hadn't received an invite, she did still want to know how well her sisters had managed the get-together. Alice was the perfect mole, and she intended to get every detail out of her. But Alice was late. Confusingly late, as the club had been scheduled to finish at about ten. It was now nearly midnight.

Extinguishing the light, she curled up to her duvet, and positioned herself so that her head was still facing the door. Maybe Professor Slughorn had decided to keep the group a little later than usual. Even so, it was very strange for Alice to not be back before midnight, especially as Narcissa knew that she was taking a trip home to see her parents for the weekend. Initially, Narcissa could have waited for news of the Slug Club until tomorrow, but Alice's conspicuous absence sparked a invigorated sense of curiosity. She lay in wait, determined not to fall asleep until she came in.

The next morning, Narcissa awoke to the sound of the other third year girls getting ready for the day ahead. Alice was amongst them, chatting and laughing as if nothing strange had happened the previous night. Narcissa pushed herself into an upright position, hair sticking out in every direction. Alice, who had been tugging on a pair of socks, glanced round, and spotted her.

"Oh good, you're up! Tarquin knocked about half an hour ago; he wants to know if you want to go with him to Hogsmeade later."

At the sound of his name, Narcissa shuddered.

"What did you say to him?"

"I said that you were out, being very busy and important, but if I saw you I would pass the message along. Why are you giving me that expression?"

Narcissa realised she was grimacing, and tried to stop. "Sorry, it's not you, it's him_."_

Alice sprung up and flopped onto the bed beside her. "Is it really that bad?"

"It's _worse." _Narcissa accepted the hairbrush that Alice offered her, and continued, tugging the knots out of her hair. "I don't even know where to begin. He's so absolutely horrendous on every possible level. His hygiene is so awful – did I tell you, I managed to fix his spots, but he's so _dirty _that they came straight back! And then on a social level, urgh, he just doesn't comprehend that girls are, I don't know, _real people _who exist in _real life. _He just stares at me like I'm a marble statue, and doesn't seem to realise that conversation is usually expected in a relationship. I do all the legwork, Alice. Why am I doing all the legwork? I don't even like him!"

Alice laughed and handed over face cream and a mirror from her bedside cabinet. "Then why are you with him?"

"So I could have something that Bella and Andromeda don't have! I don't know what I was thinking, this has all been an awful mistake. But that reminds me, where were you last night? I waited up for ages, and you never came!"

"Cissy, you can't just get yourself a boyfriend to one-up your sisters. That's not how it works"

"Well it did! ….for about three days. Maybe two. One. Anyway, you didn't answer my question"

"Oh, right. I was at Slug Club. It went on till quite late."

"Really? Past _midnight?_"

"Oh.. was it really that long?"

"Yes! Why is he so keen to hang out with students? Doesn't Sluggy have any friends his own age?"

Alice laughed, but Narcissa could have sworn that a different expression had momentarily flickered across her face. Something that looked a little like... relief? But why would Alice be relived at anything? She must have imagined it. She climbed off the bed and padded barefoot over to her closet.

"Well you still need to tell me what happened. I'm really hoping for a story where Andromeda accidentally sets the room on fire, or something of similar entertainment level."

"Of course she didn't, stop wishing mean things on people."

"Fine, fine. Get dressed, you're going to spend the day helping me avoid Tarquin."

"I don't understand why you can't just dump -"

"-It's the principle, Alice! The principle!"

Alice rolled off the bed, landing with an undignified thump, and crawled over to her own closet. "Cissy, I'm trying to say this in the nicest way I can, but you really are an idiot."

A few days later, Andromeda found herself heading for the library again, her progress significantly hindered by her copy of 'Moste Potente Potions', which somehow seemed to be even heavier than before. Finally staggering through the entrance, she was immediately caught off-balance by a hand which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and was now tugging her towards the check-out desk. A now-familiar voice in her ear muttered 'Madame Crouch is still around. Look normal"

She turned and scowled at him. "Perfect" he chuckled, and took the book from her, placing it onto the desk and flicking through to the logging page. "Are you returning or renewing?"

This threw Andromeda for a moment; she had only really come back to the library because he had told her to, not because she had any particular intentions concerning the book.

"Uh... renew"

The boy reached for the stamp. "So it's a good book then? For your project, I mean. Of course it's a good book, otherwise I wouldn't have.." He trailed off, looking a bit lost, and stamped the form in place of ending his sentence.

"Actually, no..."

He glanced up. "What? … then why are you taking it out again?"

Andromeda shifted a bit, not sure where this sudden twinge of guilt had come from. "No, it's just..."

"...You haven't got round to reading it yet, have you?"

"I've been busy!" She hissed at him, becoming vaguely aware that there were other students nearby.

He laughed and handed the book back to her. "Nice work ethic you've got there."

"At least it's better than your customer service. You haven't even thought to tell me your name!" Andromeda silently congratulated herself on dropping the subject of his name into the conversation without looking interested, then subsequently wondered why she was doing so.

"What? Haven't I? Oh, that's awkward. Sorry" They stood there for a moment, facing each other.

"So your name is...?" Okay, maybe less smooth this time around.

"Oh, right, of course. Edward, Edward Tonks. Except my friends call me Ted, so there's that too."

"Alright, Edward-slash-Ted Tonks. Thanks for the info. I'll try and remember that next time" She turned, book in arms, and headed swiftly out the library.

"Okay, good. Wait, what do you mean you'll _try _and remember that next time?"

Andromeda heard the protest from behind her, and turned round to see his mock-affronted expression from the check-in desk. She smirked, and continued walking, listening as he called after her.

"I can't believe you said that! I gave you the best book of your life, and in return you'll _try _to remember my name! That's betrayal, right there. _Betrayal."_

She laughed, without turning back, and headed onwards to the revolving staircases.

**A/N: Thank you for getting this far! As always, please follow or favourite if you like the story, otherwise it will get lost forever amongst everything else on this site, and that would be sad, because I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters. **

**So, any thoughts? Comments? Please leave them below, I love them like Neville loves cardigans and they are always welcome :) Also, I'm still in the process of introducing characters into the story; who interests you the most so far? Who do you want to hear more about? Let me know!**


	5. Troll in the Dungeon

Chapter Five

Troll in the Dungeon

Halloween, 1968

On yet another trip to renew her still unread edition of 'Moste Potente Potions', Andromeda took the opportunity to pass through the Great Hall, as it would be her last opportunity to catch a glance at the lavish decorations before the Halloween Ball taking place the following day. It appeared that the Hogwarts makeshift interior design team had come out in full force to smother the entire room in decorations. Professor Sprout was hurrying up and down the tables, causing a long vine with black flowers to weave around every surface. Professor Egg was casting ominous mosaic patterns into the windows, whilst Professor McGonagall was attempting to not shout at Professor Slughorn, who had evidently grown tired of the proceedings, and had instead sat in Dumbledore's chair, swigging from his flask. In one corner, she spotted Professor Picardy, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, whipping a rope at a frightened bunch of fairies, who had refused to wear sets of miniature fangs. Fascinated, she watched as he was swiftly intercepted by Hagrid, who, it was rumoured, liked to raise magical creatures in good condition so that they were ripe for eating. After a couple of words passed between the two, Picardy shrugged, handed Hagrid the whip, and stalked off. Hagrid paused until Picardy was out of close range, then dropped the whip, instead producing a small bag of chocolate buttons, which the fairies instantly swarmed towards. Andromeda was impressed by his method; she had always assumed that giants were rather stupid beings. Then again, she reasoned, the oaf had probably just adapted to his surroundings, using his animal survival instinct.

Wondering whether fairies would constitute as starters, lunch or dinner to a giant, Andromeda climbed the staircase to the library. She and Edward had now developed a pattern to their encounters: she would arrive on Thursday evenings and, avoiding Madame Crouch, ask to renew the book, he would jokingly enquire whether she had started reading it yet, she would bat him off with a superbly placed insult, then he would eventually re-stamp the page and she would be on her way.

"Well if it isn't Miss. Pollyanna herself!" he greeted her as she approached the desk.

She furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if this was an insult that she didn't understand. "I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing... It was just an ironic reference... Oh never mind" He commented, as her expression became increasingly confused.

"Okay..." She pushed the book over to him, and he reached for the stamp. Flicking over to the loan page, he pressed it down onto the paper. Then again. And again. Frowning, he lifted the stamp back up, and inspected the base.

"Sorry, I think the ink cartridge has jammed. I'll go and get another one from the store cupboard."

"Can't you just correct it with magic?"

Edward laughed, his brown eyes crinkling at the edges. "Oh if only it were that simple. The ink is one of a kind and spell-proof, it's one of Madame Crouch's methods to keep people from faking the stamp when their books go overdue. There are more stamps in the cupboard though"

Andromeda stared at him in disbelief. "Seriously?"

"That's only the start when it comes to library pedantry, believe me. I had to take an initiation course when I started working here. I kid you not, it took _twelve full days_." He rifled in a desk draw, retrieving a set of keys, and gesturing to her to follow him. "It's mildly terrifying. Do you know, some of the books in the restricted section are programmed to scream at you if not opened with sufficient care? Scared the living daylights out of me, the first time it happened..."

They had reached a large wooden door next to the Transfiguration section, covered in various locks and safety charms. Andromeda watched as he expertly cracked fourteen different types of barrier, and the door swung open. Inside was a room almost the size of her bedroom at home, containing lines and lines of shelves bearing mostly stationary equipment and unused books. Edward wandered down a row, looking for the stamp box, and took the opportunity to have a snoop around the rest of the room. As she flicked through a notebook of book fines dating from 1926, she heard his voice from somewhere else in the room.

"Andromeda?" He sounded slightly unsure of himself.

Knowing that he was nowhere near her, she directed her comment to the ceiling. "Yes, Edward?"

"If you have no intention of reading that book, why do you keep taking it out?"

"It's supposed to be for an Independent Project."

"Oh." After his answer there was a long silence. Andromeda couldn't quite work out what it meant, which wasn't helped by the fact that she couldn't see his face. She walked down a different aisle, lined with replacement book jackets. He spoke again. "Why don't you just say you're too busy for the project then?"

"I can't. Slughorn would believe me, but Bellatrix wouldn't."

"Your sister? How does she come into it?" The naiveté in his disembodied voice genuinely made her laugh.

"You evidently haven't spend a lot of time with her! Bella... I guess she's got a lot of strong ideas, about a lot of things. And one of those things is the family reputation, which is where I come in. Frankly, she shows a lot more interest in my life and my so-called 'accomplishments' than both my parents put together, but that means she finds it very important that Sissy and I do well, so I told her I'd do the project to look pragmatic. She'll never let me abandon it. I just have to hope that she either forgets or graduates, whatever comes first."

"So the book is a prop? A symbol?"

"Exactly." She didn't know what it was, but something made her want to keep talking. "It's just difficult, that's all. I've accepted that I'll never live up to her, but she hasn't. She still wants me to be this amazing, smart, beautiful, powerful witch, but that's just not who I am. I accept that, but the amount of pressure she puts on us..."

"I don't think you're being particularly fair on yourself. Or accurate, for that matter"

"You don't know _me_ that well either, then. I coast. That's what I do. I coast along, and always get by, but compared to people like Bella, I'm nothing. When it comes down to it, she has motivation, and I don't. Take her ideas about blood status for example. I'll bet you anything that within five years the ministry policies about mudblood inclusion will be totally different, and it will be a _direct_ result of her actions. And I think it's only because she's been busy with schoolwork that she hasn't single-handedly ousted that giant. It's incredible, and I'm so proud of everything she does, but I can't be her equal, and I wish she would stop trying to make me be one."

Andromeda finished her rant, and turned a corner to see Edward quietly listening, sitting with his back against a shelf, having found the stamp box some time ago. He glanced around, and seeing her, climbed to his feet, putting the box back in it's place. He smiled and waved the replacement stamp, but something about the motion seemed a little forced. She stopped, a small distance away from him. Something about his actual physical presence made her emotionally retreat once more.

"Forget I said that. I shouldn't be complaining about her."

He hesitated, then put the new stamp in his trouser pocket. "Even if.. even if there are things you don't want to talk about with me, you should talk about them with someone. One of your friends, or -"

She scoffed. "-Urgh, spare me". The words came out sounding unintentionally aggressive. He appeared to take the cue, and made his way to the exit.

With a swift change of tone, he glanced over his shoulder. "So have you got any plans for the holidays?"

Completely taken aback by the U-turn in conversation, she found herself answering as they vacated the store cupboard. "Christmas is the same every year. We end up inviting half the wizarding population over to our house for an extended stay, so by Christmas itself, Bellatrix, Narcissa and I are banished to our old nursery to entertain all the cousins. It's awful. None of us are any good at it."

Edward laughed, and took out the stamp from his pocket as they approached the desk. "I'm afraid I can't share your pain. Youngest of the family, you see."

Suddenly, Andromeda felt herself becoming curious about his living situation. Obviously the boy wasn't too affluent, otherwise they would have a family connection, and 'Tonks' wasn't a name she could ever remember her father bringing up when he discussed the Ministry.

"How about you?"

For the first time ever, she saw him squirm. No, his parents definitely weren't high ranking wizards. He tried to conceal his action, and replied, twice as cheerfully as before.

"Oh nothing particularly interesting. Go back home, see my parents, my sister, eat, sleep, the usual. They only get a few days off work and after that it gets boring, so I'll be back here before the new year anyway"

Taking pity on his situation, she decided not to push the conversation further. Instead, she tried to make him feel at least a little less inadequate. "You don't even know the definition of the word 'boring' until you've sat through about ten consecutive Black family dinner parties. Maybe I should follow your lead, and escape back here!"

She picked up the book with far more grace than she had initially, having adjusted to it's weight over the weekly library visits. "I'll see you next week then?"

He was already settling back into his desk chair. "Wouldn't miss it for the world", he commented wryly.

His tone made Andromeda feel a small burst of affection for the boy in the library, and she looked back as she reached the exit.

"See you, Edward"

* * *

If anyone had walked into the 3rd year girl's dormitory at that point, they may well have thought that a rather vicious duel had just taken place. Clothes lay strewn all over the floor, and powder had been tipped all over Ophelia's bedside cabinet. It didn't help that all five girls – Narcissa, Alice, Ophelia, and their roommates, Barbara and May, had elected to get dressed at the same time. The much anticipated Halloween Ball was only hours away, and was the only event of the year where fancy-dress was encouraged. Of course, for Narcissa, this had meant multiple communications between her mother, herself, and the family seamstress over the last month, until she had managed to get herself a brightly patterned dress with an A-line skirt. The dress was a bright yellow, with lurid purple swirls covering it. Twirling around, she displayed it to the rest of the room. Alice, who was in the process of attaching owl feathers to her arms, looked bemused.

"Um... it's very... What are you supposed to be, exactly?"

Narcissa looked down at the outfit, and back to the girls. "I'm a muggle, duh!"

The girls stared at her, then promptly collapsed into giggles. "Cissy, that's brilliant!" Ophelia wheezed.

May came over to prod at it. "It's genuinely the most hideous dress I've ever seen."

"Making it perfect for Halloween, I know!" Narcissa grinned, using hairspray to build herself an enormous quiff.

"Ah, but will Tarquin like it?" Alice commented from her bed.

"I hope he hates it so much that he has to avoid being seen with me all evening!" she retaliated.

"That's one way of doing it, I suppose" Alice muttered under her breath, pushing the leftover feathers back inside a bag.

"Pardon?" Narcissa glanced over to her.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking, that's all. So why are you going with him, again?"

"Because my life is one big, miserable joke, that's why. I have enough material to write a book. He picks his nose and then tries to hold my hand. I'm fairly certain that the only time he washes is after quidditch practice, and that's only once a week because he didn't make the first team! Oh, and the other day he asked me if magic was spelt with a G or a J. I wanted to cry on behalf of the rest of humanity."

"So dump him!"

"I can't! I'm trapped with him forever! When we die, alone, in our infested old cottage in the middle of the wasteland, please make sure I'm buried in a different graveyard to him. Different continent, ideally."

Alice tugged the feather headpiece that completed her outfit over her head, and stood up.

"Come on Cissy. You can do it. Tonight, you are a young, assertive, uh... semi-beautiful muggle girl who doesn't need some gross boy clinging to her every step. If not for yourself, do it for us! Do it for feminism!"

The girls all cheered over Narcissa's protests, and together they set off to the ball.

* * *

Narcissa enjoyed approximately fifteen and a half minutes in the company of her friends before Tarquin sprung out of the shadows. He had gunge dripping down his face, and his hair was cemented to his head. She desperately hoped that it wasn't permanent.

"I heard you came as a muggle. Very appropriate. Can't think of anything more horrifying." He started to itch at the area between his legs. Narcissa wanted to vomit.

"What are you?"

Tarquin indicated the gunge, as if she needed reminding of it's presence.

"I'm a troll"

"A troll. On Halloween. How _original." _The words slipped out before she could help herself. Tarquin gazed at her in shock, unused to hearing her angry tone. His dazed, slovenly expression only infuriated her further, and she decided to uncork her vial of repressed anger.

"See, if you were worth anything, McTavish, you would have thought to confer with me so we could find a way of matching outfits. Not that would be any use, because with that face, nothing will save you."

She became aware that most of the Slytherins from her year were now listening in, some looking shocked, Alice and Ophelia looking positively gleeful. It spurred her on.

"And Halloween? I couldn't think of an event more appropriate to attend with you. You're disgusting, unhygienic, and even after two months you still creep me out."

He continued to stand there, utterly speechless. She began to laugh.

"Merlin's Beard, please don't tell me that this _surprises _you!? Why on earth did this relationship even happen? We're so non-compatible, it would be funny - if you weren't so repulsive. I should never had said yes to you. You were just desperate, and I felt sorry for you." With that, she spun around and flounced off, leaving the girls desperately trying to suppress their laughter.

Narcissa picked up a blood orange cocktail from a tray which was hovering nearby, and made her way out to the entrance hall to cool off. As she came in, she saw Bellatrix deep in conversation with a group of people wearing thick black cloaks. She has highly tempted pull Bellatrix away so she could vent to her, but something about these people, and the way Bella was talking to them, made her think that they were important. She wasn't sure why, they must just be sixth or seventh years, but something stopped her from coming any closer. Bellatrix was talking to them earnestly, and eventually they started to head out of the castle doors. As they turned around, Narcissa thought she might spot a familiar face, but all of them, apart from Bellatrix, were wearing strange metal masks, with only small slots to reveal the eyes. Maybe Bellatrix was trying to get one for herself so that she wasn't left out? It must be some sort of secret society amongst the upper years. As Bellatrix left, Narcissa resolved to find out how to join.

At that point a hand touched her shoulder, and she smacked it away instinctively. It was Travers, and he looked angry.

"You can't do that" he exclaimed.

"If you touch me without my permission, I can do whatever the hell I want, thank you very much" Narcissa replied primly.

"I meant Tarquin, you harpy. That, back in there? That wasn't okay. We all hate you now"

"Oh no, do you really?" Narcissa pulled the best 'sad' expression she could muster.

"Yes"

"Oh I don't care about the others at all. Let them think what they like! But you, Travers! I thought you understood me. I thought we had a connection!"

He frowned, taken aback. "We... we do?"

"Yes, Travers. Can't you feel it? It's always been there. I've always had to ignore it, because McTavish is your best friend, and I would never... but it's just become too hard to ignore!"

Travers was paralysed.

"Oh, I'm so glad we can say this now. I'm a free woman, Travers, and now we can finally be together, just like we always wanted!"

"...Like we … always wanted?" He echoed.

"Of course, I'm so glad you agree. I'm so happy to be able to call you my boyfriend at last"

The poor boy was edging dangerously close to edging in to full shut-down mode. He made a strange grunting sound as she linked arms with him, and they went back into the hall once more.

* * *

Andromeda had never liked parties. Dinner parties, birthday parties, balls, they were all as bad as each other. At least when she had her sisters with her, there was someone with whom to talk. However at school, there was nobody she actually liked enough to call a friend, even if she spent most of her time with them. This especially went for the girls in her dorm. Isobel, Betty, Morgance and Carolyn were all nice enough, but they were silly and childish, and none of them had any interest in her beyond the rumours about the affluence and power of her family. Besides, as of last year, all four of them had decided that dating boys was the most important thing in the world, and she found it increasingly difficult not to dramatically sigh whenever she had to watch them flirt. Such an occasion was happening at present. Lucius Malfoy had strolled over, and the four girls were practically giving him a full-body massage.

"It's a fabulous event, isn't it?" Betty commented, straightening the collar of his shirt.

"Yes, rather, although I'd say I've seen better" Lucius drawled. "I notice they don't have the elvish choir that were here last year"

"Oh no, really?" gushed Carolyn.

"It's a terrible shame." He continued. "My father reckons that this whole place is going to the dogs. Dumbledore's lost it, in my opinion. What this place needs is some strong leadership, not an old fool running the show. There's a rumour going round that within ten years we won't even have a Halloween Ball. There's talk of downsizing it to a feast." The girls all gasped in horror.

She couldn't help it. Andromeda sighed heavily, but luckily no-one seemed to notice her.

"It's true. Budget cuts. My father says Hogwarts just isn't the place it used to be. I for one will be sending any child of mine to Durmstrang. They know how to maintain order. At the end of the day, it's the muggle problem, isn't it? They're tearing our heritage, our values, away from us, and Dumbledore, the fool, is all for it."

Andromeda nodded along with the rest of the girls, not really listening any more. She was watching Narcissa at the other side of the room near the cauldron of punch. She appeared to be in some dispute with some of the boys in her year. At that moment, McTavish swung round and smacked Travers in the jaw. The two boys then lunged at each other, kicking and biting until Professor McGonagall arrived to prize them apart. Narcissa was not at all shaken by the incident, and wandered off, accompanied by a couple of her friends.

Although Malfoy had been correct in noting the absence of last years Elven Choir, there was still a wizard band, who had just taken to the stage, which was positioned in the spot where the teacher's table usually stood. As the music kicked in, groups of students took to the dance-floor, creating bright combination of colours from their fancy-dress. Fancy-dress. Andromeda looked down at her conspicuously average outfit. She had completely forgotten about the fancy-dress aspect. Whoops.

The students had now created a large dancing area in the hall, and she drew back against the wall, in case anyone tried to force her into joining in. Morgance appeared next to her.

"Urgh, what a let-down. Malfoy's only gone and asked _Isobel_ to dance with him. She doesn't even have proper dancing shoes. Oh well, such is life."

Andromeda nodded, watching the crowd. A circle of Hufflepuffs had formed in the middle of the floor, and various students were being thrown into the middle, in order to perform a solo dance. Boys and girls danced around chaotically, drastically lacking in style but clearly having a good time. Then, she saw the last face that she'd been expecting to see. It was Edward, the boy from the library. Except he wasn't in the library. He was in the Great Hall, in a large circle of Hufflepuffs. Andromeda felt like she had just seen a penguin in the sahara desert.

One girl pushed Edward into the centre of the circle and he laughed, taking her hand and pulling her in with him. The music was lively and upbeat, and he swung her around until she became giddy and had to break off. He grabbed another smiling girl, and then another, lifting them up and spinning them around like it was second nature to him. He looked happy; like he was having fun. Did he have fun when they spent time together in the library? Andromeda wondered whether she needed to tone down the string of insults that built the foundations of their relationship. Or their conversations. They didn't have a relationship, did they? The punch, which she had been vigorously drinking earlier in the evening, now seemed like less of a good idea. Her thoughts were becoming slightly muddled. Why was he here? He belonged with her, in the library. Who were all these Hufflepuffs?

"If only Lucius could be like that" Morgance commented. Andromeda looked at her, and realised that Morgance had seen what she was looking at. "That boy knows how it works. All those girls like him, so he dances with all of them. It's only fair, after all. But _no, _Lucius has to pick one girl – the _worst _girl, to add insult to injury. She's not even pretty!"

"I thought Isobel was your best friend?"

"Yeah, I chose her _because _she isn't pretty. She makes me look good in comparison."

This was another reason why Andromeda kept her distance from people. The people who you trusted most always seemed to be the first to stab you in the back.

"I don't think that's at all nice, Morgance. But anyway, I don't think those girls even like that guy over there. They're just friends."

"Are you kidding me? Look at them! They're all over that. _I _would be all over that if I had the opportunity. And that's really saying something, considering that he's a Hufflepuff."

Something snapped. Andromeda found herself slipping into auto-pilot mode. She heard herself, as in third person, announcing that she was tired, and that she's see the others later in dormitory. Morgance didn't put up much protest, and she quickly left for the Slytherin dungeons. It was only when she entered her empty dormitories that her heart-rate returned to it's natural level. All in all, it had been a very strange evening.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! This is my longest chapter so far - the first story-arcs are really kicking in now and I'm having a great time writing them! Of course, any comments, follows, favourites are forever welcome, but I'd be particularly interested on your thoughts on Alice and/or Bellatrix. Both of them are side-lined at the moment, but I'm planning on both of them making a big impact later down the line. It would be lovely to hear from you x**


	6. Something Borrowed, Something Renewed

Chapter Six

Something Borrowed, Something Renewed

November, 1968

_Damn it! _Andromeda thought angrily, gasping as she climbed the staircase two steps at a time. It was Thursday, and already ten past eight, meaning that the library had almost definitely shut. She knew it was her own fault; she hadn't been at all busy and could have dropped in to renew her book at any time, but for reasons unknown she had spent the whole evening in a state of procrastination. She had even let Isobel and Betty engage her in conversation about Lucius for a good two hours, as a result of Isobel's 'triumph' at the Halloween Ball. They had discussed at length on whether "I'll see you later, then" meant that he was interested in a long-term relationship, and Isobel fretted that her freckles would eventually push him away. Finally, after they had drained Andromeda of every piece of information she could recall about the Malfoy family, they let her go without complaint or a goodbye.

She hadn't seen Edward since Halloween, and wasn't really sure how to treat him since this incident. Up until the moment she saw him with all the Hufflepuff girls, she had always treated the boy as a fixed point in her life. He had a time, a day and a location, and it had never much occurred to her that he had his own life beyond their own encounters. Now that she was aware of his individual existence, she felt like he had mutated into a foreign entity.

Reaching the library, she breathed a sigh of relief to find the door shut, but unlocked. Using her shoulder to edge open the door, both hands occupied by 'Moste Potente Potions', she slid through.

_'Well no one told me about her, the way she lied  
Well no one told me about her, how many people cried'_

The sound took her by surprise. Although she had grown up with a personal radio, hearing music in the library felt unnatural. Coming in to investigate further, she spotted a record player on top of the check-in desk, and behind it, stacking books onto a shelf, was Edward. His back was turned so he continued stacking in time to the beat of the song, completely oblivious to her presence. Andromeda coughed. He didn't hear it. She tried his name.

"Edward"

_'Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked  
The way she'd act and the colour of her hair'_

The record drowned her out. She tried again.

"Edward!"

"_Her eyes were clear and bright  
But she's not there"_

It was no use. She stalked over to the desk and dropped her own book down with a large thud, displacing the record, which came to a shuddering halt. On hearing the sound, he spun round immediately. She smiled.

"Oh, sorry, my fault."

He raised his eyebrows at her, coming over to properly remove the disc from the player.

"Are you apologising for almost breaking my record, or for being late for your renewal?"

"Wow, who died and made you head librarian?"

He grinned and shook his head, sliding the disc back into it's cover. "Maybe I _have _been working here too long."

The tension that Andromeda felt in anticipation of speaking to him again faded away without her noticing. No longer bothering to ask, he opened the front page of 'Moste Potente Potions' and stamped it. She prodded at the record player.

"Where did this come from?"

"Why, where all things come from: the store-cupboard. Naturally it only comes out a few times a year, what with the ban on noise in the library. I'm not sure why Madame Crouch hasn't thrown it away."

"Well that would be a shame. I personally found your dancing quite entertaining" she said, springing up to sit on the desk.

"What! I wasn't _dancing. _I was _stacking. Rhythmically."_

She laughed. "Right. That's what they all say".

"Hey, at least I can dance, unlike some in this room!"

"What do you mean by that? She asked indignantly.

"I saw you at Halloween Ball, skulking around like it the last place you wanted to be. From your apparent lack of enthusiasm I can only assume that you're such a horrific dancer that you censor yourself from participating in any shape or form!"

Upon hearing this, she picked up the book and swatted him with it on the shoulder.

"Owww!"

"I _do not _skulk." However, she hadn't realised that he'd seen her at the Halloween Ball. He'd looked far too occupied by the group surrounding him, and she'd certainly made no effort to be noticed herself. She couldn't work out if she was happy about this or not.

"Your lack of relevant response is very telling. Do we need to get you lessons?"

"Well I certainly wouldn't be getting them from you! I notice you lack a certain level of co-ordination in that field". Wait, had she just _flirted _with him? No, of course not, that was just a standard insult, like the ones they always swapped... wasn't it? Suddenly she wasn't quite so sure. Luckily, it seemed that her expression did not reflect her thought process, because Edward carried on as if nothing had changed.

"Andromeda, if you did in fact see me, you'll know that you just told a lie so huge that I can't even be offended by it."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Besides, I sort of wish I didn't see you there. It felt wrong."

He tilted his head to one side and scrunched his nose "... Hang on, I'm trying to work out whether I should be insulted by that."

"It's true!" She insisted. "You belong in the library. Seeing you somewhere else is like... like watching a centaur walk on it's hind legs"

"Now I'm _definitely _insulted by that! I'm allowed to roam beyond these walls, you know."

"Not if I had my way." He gaped at her. "I'm serious! You exist here, with your stamp and your step ladder, and now apparently your record player." She picked up the vinyl cover and looked at it. "What is this, anyway?"

"Firstly, not my record player, I only use this because I don't own one myself. Secondly, only one of the best records of this decade, so I won't hear a bad word about it. Mum only owled it to me the other day, so I've been making the most of it."

Andromeda flicked the cover round to look at the other side. Judging from the wear around the edges, it was a second-hand purchase. Her own family had a large library of mint-condition records at home, which she imagined would probably include this EP, and she briefly wondered whether she should offer to give him theirs, if he liked it so much. Ultimately, she decided against it. Money was always a touchy subject in the wizarding world at the best of times, but especially due to all the recent talk of insurgent groups, which was causing the economy to inch ever closer to crisis mode. Just because she was comfortable talking about wealth, didn't mean that others would be.

"No, actually I thought it sounded pretty good."

"Oh." Her response surprised him. He rubbed his temple for a moment, and then shrugged. "You can borrow it, if you like. I mean, if you have your own player at Hogwarts."

"Yes. About the player, I mean. No, wait, about both. Are you sure that's okay?" She garbled, still holding the vinyl in her hands.

Edward relaxed against the desk. There was a lot more control to his voice when he next spoke. "Yeah, yeah, no problem. Just bring it back when you're done, that's all. We can treat it as an additional loan to the book."

"And you're absolutely sure that's okay?"

"Yes, or I wouldn't have offered. Stop sounding so worried!"

"I don't sound-"

"- yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Now get off my desk, I still need to lock up."

"And so the usual level of service resumes" Andromeda commented, hopping off the desk. "Nice way to treat a valued customer." Edward grabbed his bag and together they made their way to the exit.

"Not so much valued customer as undetected book hoarder". He held the door open for her and she went through, giving him her best filthy look.

"Shut up. I will read it. _At some point._"

Closing the door behind them, he brought out the set of keys and set all the locks in place. With a brief flick of his wand, the protection on the door was complete. Andromeda knew that the Hufflepuff common-room was somewhere in the basement, although she reckoned it couldn't be that close to the dungeons. Therefore she wasn't surprised to see him navigate the moving staircases with her in the direction of the entrance hall.

They had made light conversation down the three flights of stairs, but he went quiet on the final few steps. She glanced up, only to realise that Carolyn from her dorm was by the door leading to the dungeons. The other girl saw her, too.

"Andromeda! Are you coming back to the dungeons?"

Andromeda quickly glanced around, only to see that Edward was already several feet away from her, heading in the opposite direction as if they were total strangers. A wave of relief washed over her, immediately followed by a wave of guilt. However, Carolyn was still waiting for her reply.

"Yes, just picking up some things from the owlery. Wait up"

As she reached Carolyn, the other girl observed the book and the record in her arms.

"Ouch, Odysseus must have had trouble carrying that book all the way up here! Is that a record? That's nice, you never use your record player, it's such a waste. I don't recognise the band though. Are they new?"

Andromeda smiled fixedly, and wondered why Carolyn insisted on asking so many questions.

"Yeah". Thankfully that answer seemed to be enough, and the two girls disappeared off to the dormitories.

* * *

The cauldron puffed out a ball of purple smoke, and Alice put the ladle down. Narcissa flicked through the 3rd year potion book, trying to re-find the page containing the instructions for volubilis potion.

"Hold on, it was here somewhere... I don't think it's supposed to end up purple though... maybe pink?"

"It's already been pink, it changed colour when we put the mandrake in."

Narcissa sighed, electing to turn pages randomly rather than look at the contents page. "Maybe it's orange then?" She glanced to Alice, hopefully. "Or maybe we just got it right?"

The potion was frothing wildly now, and Alice had to calm it with a flick of her wand when Slughorn's back was turned. Narcissa finally found the page for volubilis, and held it out for both of them to read.

"Oh, so it's supposed to be yellow? I don't get it. What did we do wrong?"

Alice took the book out her hands and started cross-examining it with the various ingredients on the table. Narcissa started to take off her potions gloves, content that her partner would solve whatever the issue was by the end of the lesson. Over on the other side of the classroom, she could see Travers taking a large swig from the jug of honeywater borrowed from the ingredients cupboard. She shuddered, remembering how most of these ingredients had been in storage for several years before use.

"Still better than McTavish" she muttered under her breath.

Alice looked up from the textbook "Pardon?"

"Travers. Still better than McTavish." Both girls looked back to Travers, who swilled the remainder of the honeywater in his mouth and spat it into the cauldron.

"Are you really sure about that?" Alice asked, her face distorted into an picture of extreme disgust.

"I actually think I am. He's gross, sure, but unlike McTavish, he realises that sometimes he needs to leave me alone. And by 'sometimes', I mean 'almost always'."

Alice poured some syrup into their own concoction. "Cissy, I do sometimes wonder whether you have any idea of what a healthy relationship is supposed to be like."

"Of course I do, don't be stupid. My _relationship_ with Travers is perfectly healthy. I just don't _like_ him all that much."

"I see. So what's his first name?"

Narcissa paused. Turning up the heat on the cauldron, she answered. "Don't know, don't care."

The bell rang for the end of class, and the students started to pack up.

"It should be more than casual make-out sessions, and then bitching behind his back. It should be a situation where you couldn't bring yourself back out, even if you knew you probably should. Look at him. What is he to you? Your best friend? Your soulmate?"

"Alice. I hate to play this card on you, but you are a teenager who never even appears to get crushes on people. What do you know about soulmates? Or is there something you're not telling me?"

Alice groaned and tucked her wand back into the pocket inside her cloak. "No, of course not."

"Well that's sorted then. He's a step up. A step towards a better boyfriend and a brighter future."

"Alright, so what about Christmas?"

The girls made their way out of the potions classroom and headed up towards the charms corridor. Narcissa was taken aback. "What about it?"

"Are you going to meet up with him? Invite him over? Meet the parents? As you say, you _are _in a relationship with him now"

The questions didn't have their desired effect. Narcissa just stopped, then burst out laughing in the middle of the hallway. "What a silly thing to ask! You're so funny sometimes, Alice."

* * *

The winter was drawing in, and Andromeda was making the most of her empty dorm before her roommates stopped braving the windy trek to Hogsmeade. Her record player had left abandoned at the bottom of her closet for the majority of the last four years, but today she had pulled it out and set it up on the floor, for lack of a better position. The record Edward lent her had been hidden under her mattress, and only now did she go to retrieve it. She didn't really know why she had been so secretive about it – the other girls wouldn't think twice about a record in the room, but somehow it was something that she wanted to keep for herself. Sliding it out the cover, and placing it carefully on the player, she set it to play and sat down on the floor, watching it spin endlessly around.

_'Well no one told me about her, the way she lied  
Well no one told me about her, how many people cried'_

After several listens, she decided that although she liked the song, she didn't particularly care for the singer. After several more plays, she decided that it was her favourite song ever, and whoever the singer was, he was amazing, and she was more than willing to bat-bogey hex anyone who said otherwise.

However, she suffered a rude interruption at the arrival of Narcissa, who came bounding into the dormitory unannounced. Flinging herself at the record player, Andromeda hastily took out the disc before her sister could grill her about it, but Narcissa's interests were elsewhere.

"Sorry, but you've got to let me stay in here. Travers wants to take me on a date tonight, and I can't bring myself to reject him to his face."

"It's just a date, Narcissa. You're being rude. Besides, you should face the consequences of dating the first boy you see. Go. It won't be that bad."

"Yes it will! There's nothing I'd rather do less. Except maybe go on a date with McTavish."

Nonchalantly, Andromeda placed the disc under her pillow whilst Narcissa sprawled dejectedly on the floor.

"Remind me, is Travers the one who gave the black eye, or the one who received it?"

"The one who received it. Although I fixed it now; he looks a lot better."

"And you don't want to see him because..."

"Because I have better things to do with my time. Like avoid him."

"Cissy, that's the biggest contradiction I could ever -"

Narcissa flung herself dramatically against the bed post. "_Love _is a contradiction, Andromeda!"

Andromeda groaned in frustration. "Except you don't like him! Nobody understands why you're bothering. I don't understand. Alice doesn't understand. Bellatrix... well, she wouldn't understand if either of us could catch her for more than ten minutes."

Narcissa pressed her hand to her forehead, imitating the fashion models in the magazines that her mother sometimes left in the reception room at home. She had started overacting, which Andromeda had come to recognise as a sign of boredom. "You don't understand, because you don't know what it feel likes to want to be with someone!"

Andromeda didn't reply. When her sister became melodramatic, it was usually best to stay quiet, until she gave up and left her alone.

The plan failed.

"... or maybe, you do!"

Without missing a beat, Andromeda flopped facedown onto her bed, burrowing herself into the duvet.

"No. No! Don't even start this conversation!" she wailed, her mouth smothered with the cotton sheet. Narcissa's eye's gleamed. It had been a while since the topic had been mentioned, and watching her big sister squirm was a wonderful side-effect.

"Soooo" she started, using a sing-song voice. "Who do you like?"

"No-one. Go away." Came the thick reply from the bedsheets.

"Don't be so boring! There must be someone you think you could at least _maybe _like?"

For a moment, Andromeda's mind diverted to a Edward, her boy in the library. If she was looking for a classic boy-meets-girl moment in her life, she had to acknowledge that meeting him was the closest thing she was going to find. But it wasn't like that. She knew this to be true, because she knew she wasn't the girl who met boys, only to spend the rest of the month crushing on them so hard that she could barely speak to them. She never acted that way towards anyone, and she certainly hadn't towards him. She realised, with a slight sense of smugness, that if anything, it was more likely to be the other way round. Pleased with the result of her thought process, she sat back up, preparing to evict Narcissa from the dormitory for once and for all.

"Sadly, little sister, there's no news that I'm going to give you, so you'd better be on your way."

Narcissa narrowed her eyes at her, not shifting.

"Why are you smiling?" she asked, her voice laced with incredulity.

Suddenly becoming distinctly aware of her facial movements, Andromeda tried as hard as possible to fix a neutral expression in place.

"I'm not smiling." It was too late. Narcissa had seen too much.

"Yes you were! What aren't you telling me? ….. Tell me, Andromeda or I'm never going to leave this room again!"

"In that case you'd better start working on your ghostly nickname, because you're going to be here for a very long time. I told you, there's nothing to tell."

Narcissa bounced towards her, grinning.

"Please, please, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease! I promise I won't repeat it to anyone!" And then, after a moment's consideration "….. Is it Malfoy?"

Andromeda could almost feel her eyes doubling in size.

"What!?"

Beaming, Narcissa went on.

"I've heard rumours, you know. Apparently his father wants him to start looking for potential partners, because of all this 'family allegiance' stuff going on at the moment. I did a bit of digging, and _your_ name appeared through the grapevine on _more_ than one occasion! Has he said anything to you?"

"What? No! Who told you this? This is brand new information to me!"

Narcissa laughed. "Really? Are you sure that he hasn't been dropping hints, and you've been too dense to notice? Because I can see that as a definite possibility"

Andromeda's face flushed a deeper shade of pink. "No! I'm absolutely certain! And if_ I_ hadn't noticed, one of the other girls would have said something. All of them have been fawning over him since the start of the year. Wait, isn't he supposed to be with Isobel at the moment?"

This appeared to be exactly what Narcissa wanted to hear. She leapt on the bed, kicking off her shoes, and started snuggling up to her very reluctant sister.

"So there is _some _gossip after all! I totally knew that all your year were trying to get with him – it's because they've all realised that he was good-looking once he toned down the hair gel. It's a pity, I clocked him long before he stopped looking like a refrigerated rat. What happened with Isobel? Tell me everything"

Not having much sense of loyalty towards the other girls, Andromeda was quite willing to comply, and spent the rest of the evening dramatically recounting the exploits of her year group. Narcissa had always loved Andromeda's rather cruel imitations of other people since she was a little girl, and they spent the rest of the evening mocking the Hogwarts community quite contentedly. Proceedings were halted upon the arrival of the other girls in the dormitory. Unable to keep a straight face upon seeing the new arrivals, Narcissa hastily excused herself from the dorm, whilst Andromeda was forced to feign tiredness in order to avoid another conversation about the significance of Malfoy using the word 'later' in place of other alternatives, such as 'soon' or 'tomorrow'.

Some time later in the night, when all the girls had drifted off to sleep, Andromeda awoke, feeling something too hard under her pillow. She reached for the object and pulled it out. Just making out the shape of it in the dark, she remembered that it was Edward's vinyl record. Quietly climbing out of bed, she lifted up the mattress and slid the record back underneath, so that it was safely hidden between mattress and bed frame. Only when she was back in the comforting warmth of the bed, content that the record was under her protection, was she able to fall asleep once more.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! As always, please review/follow/favourite if you'd like to hear more - it's such a good motivator to keep writing if I'm aware that people are interested in the story. The song in this episode is 'She's Not There' by The Zombies. **

** On a side note, I saw one reviewer comment on how weird it was to read 'Edward' instead of 'Ted'. Trust me, it's even weirder to have to write it! But that will all change, when the time comes...**

**Shhhh, I'd better leave before I drop any more spoilers...**


	7. A Blast of Cold Air

Chapter Seven

A Blast of Cold Air

End of Term, Winter, 1968

The snow crunched as Narcisssa, Alice and Ophelia made their way through the grounds. All three girls were heavily wrapped in scarves, hats and gloves. Not one of them had been brought up in a location anywhere near as north as Hogwarts, and as a result, they spent each winter endlessly complaining about how cold they were. This particular outing was only taking place because it was not optional. Earlier on the same day, Travers had sidled up to Narcissa in the common-room, sniffing back a stream of green fluid from his nostrils, and presented her with a parcel wrapped in ugly brown paper. She had stood there for a moment, utterly unresponsive, before he mumbled "Merry Christmas" and ambled away. Naturally, as soon as he was out of eyesight, she had sprinted to her friends to recount the event.

Presently, they were huddled together near the lake, close enough that they could see the ice patterns forming over the vast expanse of water.

"Okay, okay, we're away from the castle now, go on and open it!" Ophelia pleaded. Narcissa unbuttoned her rucksack and rooted around for the parcel, hindered somewhat by her thick black gloves. Eventually, she fished it out, and the girls gathered closer to look at it.

"Is that..." Alice started. She hesitated, and then, "Is that gum?"

"What?"

Alice pointed towards the flap on the parcel. Lining the flap, thus sticking it down, was a thick wad of discoloured chewing gum. Narcissa had never felt so relieved that she was wearing gloves.

"No. No no no no no! Why is this happening to me!" She wailed as her friends collapsed into laughter.

"You've _got _to open it now!" Alice giggled. "I only hope the gift lives up to the packaging."

"I can't believe this is happening. Why am I doing this?" Narcissa moaned as she gingerly pulled the paper apart.

"Cissy, we've gone over this. No-one is going to feel sorry for you when you _chose _to – What is _that_? Is it a jumper?" Alice retorted. Narcissa pulled out the large, bulky piece of fabric, and held it at arms length. The girls peered at it as if it were a magical creature. It was indeed a jumper. A bright yellow jumper, at least three sizes too big for Narcissa, made out of a very thick, scratchy material that she didn't recognise.

"Oh it's beautiful!" Alice laughed. "I bet he specially ordered it on owl delivery and everything!"

Narcissa scowled.

"It's hideous. Why would he even think to get me this? Is it his? Is it an unwanted birthday present?"

"No, no it's not" Ophelia interjected. "Look at the label. It's a women's jumper."

"That possibly makes it worse! What's this material? Do I even want to know?" Narcissa lamented, still holding the jumper as far away from her as possible.

"Not a clue."

"What am I supposed to do with it? I can't have this in my room!"

"Throw it in the lake!" Ophelia squealed. "Quick, before you catch a disease."

"I'm not sure that's allowed..." Alice muttered, but her two friends were already leaping through the snow towards the lake's edge.

"Find a big stone and throw it at the ice" Narcissa instructed. "I need a hole to get this into the water!". Both girls laughed hysterically as Ophelia picked up a rock from the bank and hurled it down at the ice. It cracked open, and Narcissa dropped the jumper into the gap. There it stayed, floating on the water's surface

"Oh no, it's not sinking!" She exclaimed, looking round to the others. "Help me get it underwater before the ice freezes over again!"

A large figure was coming out of the white mist towards them. Judging by the size, he had to either be a 7th year or a teacher, and either way they were about to get in serious trouble.

"Move" Alice demanded, and pushed the other girls apart, so that she could see the abandoned jumper. Pulling out her wand, she cried out "Deprimo!" and with a blast, the jumper sank into the murky depths of the water, causing a large wave to ripple out over the lake's perimeter.

The girls jumped back, trying to stop their winter boots from getting splashed.

"Hey!" A deep, gravely voice called from behind them. "What d'yer think you're doing out here?"

They swung round, to see that the large figure was not a 7th year or a teacher at all. It was the giant, Hagrid. He had taken to roaming the grounds to frighten students, although Narcissa suspected that he was too slow and stupid to pose any real risk. He advanced towards them.

"You three can't just dump yer stuff in the lake like that. There are creatures living in there!"

"It's the half-breed!" Narcissa squeaked. "Run!".

Giggling like small children, the girls turned and fled back towards the castle. A few minutes later, they reached the great oak doors, panting profusely. As Alice pushed it open, Narcissa glanced back to check if the half-giant had managed to catch up with them, but all she could see were clouds of white mist.

"He's gone."

"Thank god!" Ophelia laughed. "We're lucky that giants are too brutish to co-ordinate their movements properly, or else we'd be stewing in a pot in that nasty cabin by now!"

Free of the giant, and free of the jumper, they slunk back into the Slytherin common-room.

* * *

During her lunch hour, Andromeda often avoided the other students by retreating to the Quad, which was used more as a passageway than a destination. Sitting in a stone enclave which faced out over the grass, she unwrapped her Pumpkin Pasty and took a bite. She was grateful that the house-elves provided hot food at lunchtime, as it was just about the only thing keeping her warm in the icy december weather.

Footsteps echoed across the paving stones, and Bellatrix, wrapped in a thick winter cloak and scarf, came to sit next to her.

"It's really rather unsociable that you choose to sit out here, instead of with the rest of your house".

"I just don't feel like it. They irritate me." Andromeda mumbled, taking another bite of pasty, and failing to stop crumbs falling over her lap.

"Still, it's not going to buy you any social favours". Bellatrix pulled out a flask of Nettle Tea and pressed it to her lips. The girls sat in a comfortable silence. Then Andromeda remembered something which she had been meaning to ask.

"Where have you been all this term? I barely see you at all."

Bellatrix paused in consideration.

"I.. Yes. I'm going to tell you something, Andromeda, but it's sensitive information, and so you can't you around repeating it, do you understand?"

"Of course... What is it?"

"Have you ever heard of a organisation called The Knights of Walpurgis?"

"No"

"You should have. I'm sure Professor Binns briefly covers it in 2nd Year History of Magic."

"I don't remember what happened in History of Magic yesterday, let alone two years ago."

"Well that's just not good enough. You can't have your classmates out-doing you in the OWLS!"

"Bella, seriously, you're the only person I've ever met who pays attention in that class."

Bellatrix smiled reluctantly.

"Sadly, you may be right. It's all for nothing, anyway. He still calls me Grant instead of Black. But I digress. The Knights of Walpurgus developed this school of thought, which very simply put, is about the successful continuation of the wizarding community. Our society can't progress without strong wizarding bloodlines, and the integration of wizarding and muggle worlds poses a major risk to our futures. That's why they don't formally acknowledge the existence of 'muggle-born wizards'. You're a muggle, or you're a wizard. You can't be both."

"So you've joined this group?"

"... not quite. They don't... they don't really like taking students into the fold. Or women. But they let me help them on promotional and recruitment drives, so if I can prove myself, I think I stand a fighting chance of getting in. That's what I've been doing this term. Going out on house-to-house visits, trying to spread the word. Writing up reports. I can't go to the meetings, but they let me read their notes afterwards."

"And this is for extra-curricular activities? You want to be a politician?"

Bellatrix laughed.

"God forbid! No, if anything I think I'd like to be a campaigner of sorts. Politicians get lost in the lifestyle, and ultimately don't make any difference at all. I actually want to change things, and to do that I think I need to stay on the ground. It's pressure groups and the like which actually get things done, so that's the direction I'm going in."

"What do you want to change then?" Andromeda asked, rubbing her hands on her legs in an attempt to keep them warm.

"A lot! But obviously I'd have to move in baby steps. So firstly, I want Hogwarts to stop accepting muggles, alongside any other magical educational institution in this country. That way they can be slowly fazed out of the wizarding world, which feels a bit more humane than taking a hard line of segregation. That will eventually cleanse out the bloodlines, but we also need laws in place banning relationships between wizards and muggles, and ultimately wizards and muggle-borns, so that the children born are as pure as possible. I haven't finished working on it yet, but I've been drawing up several proposed amendments to the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which would decrease interaction between the wizarding and muggle world."

"Well I think these Knights of Warblington are stupid not to accept you" Andromeda mumbled through another bite of pasty.

"Walpurgis. And no, they're really not. They just take things very seriously, and I need to prove my worth, that's all. Don't criticise them; the work they have been doing is really impressive."

"I'm just saying! You don't need to be an adult or a man to be worthy of them. I think you're pretty spectacular just as you are."

At this, Bellatrix fake-vomited, but was smiling.

"Oh Andromeda, if only everybody had your excellent judge of character. I'll just have to break in the traditional way, from the inside."

The bells in the clock-tower began to chime, signalling the end of lunch. As the noise reverberated around the deserted quad, the girls packed away their belongings and stood up. Andromeda pulled a wooly hat down over her head, and turned to her sister.

"I've got to go, I have astronomy and the stairs are a nightmare. I hope everything works out with this group – keep me updated on how you're doing? I never see you enough."

Bellatrix sighed.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But Christmas is coming up soon, and you know how it works, we'll spend the whole holiday trapped in that house, so lots of time to catch up."

"That's one way of putting a positive spin on it, I suppose". They started walking towards an exit archway. "Oh, did I tell you? Narcissa wants to put a wager on the house-elf turnover this season. She says she's worked out a formula. She's pretty confident."

"We might as well take her up on it. At least there will be one thing to entertain us at home."

* * *

Stuffing 'Moste Potente Potions' into her bag, Andromeda glanced at the vinyl that was currently resting on her bed. Very reluctantly, she carefully added it to the bag, relying on the fact that the other girls in the dorm were too busy gossiping about Augustus Rookwood and his new girlfriend to ask what she was doing. The vinyl had lived with her in the Slytherin dormitory for almost a month. The first time she had gone to renew the book since borrowing Edward's music, she had told him that she hadn't had much time to listen to it, and needed more time to appreciate it. The next week, she simply said that she had forgotten it. By the third week, she knew that he knew that she was unwilling to return it any time soon, but all he did was laugh and say that he hoped the vinyl wouldn't fall prey to her horrible hoarding habit. In actuality, she had been secretly playing the disc on repeat since the day he had lent it to her. However, it was now the final week of term, and she knew that she should return it before the christmas holidays commenced.

Knowing that the library would be empty of other patrons by five past eight, she didn't rush her journey through the castle, instead choosing to have a proper look at the portraits on the walls as she passed. It may have just been paranoia, but she could have sworn that several of them payed increased attention to her in particular, but none of them said a word, so she resolved that it must just have been a figment of her imagination.

Edward was aimlessly swinging in circles on the library desk chair when she came in. He grinned at her and put his feet down, bringing himself to a standstill. Andromeda noticed that his hair had grown slightly longer, and as a result was increasingly curly. It made him look like the teenage boy equivalent of one of the cherub paintings on the ceiling at home.

"Hey guess what?" She said, walking over to the desk and reaching into her bag.

"Oh don't tell me. You've _finally _finished with hoarding my music?" He joked, climbing to his feet.

Upon hearing this, Andromeda couldn't resist. She released her grip on the vinyl in her bag, and instead brought out the textbook, looking as innocent and bemused as possible.

"What? No. I was just taking out the book. Did I need to bring back the disc today? Was that important?"

Edward looked a little taken aback, but if he was annoyed by her, he didn't show it. She put the book on the table in front of him.

"Oh, no, it's just, I don't know, with Christmas and all-". He looked so uncomfortable that she couldn't help dropping the act.

"Ted, chill. I was kidding, I have it here" she laughed, bringing it out her bag and passing it over to him. At this point he did breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good, because I really love that song and I was trying really hard not to get mad at you for stealing my music for the holidays!"

"Oh yeah, like you're the kind of person to get mad at anyone"

He smiled, turning the disc over in his hands.

"Fair enough."

Andromeda thought that considering how easy-going he had been about her extended music loan, she might as well be honest about the record.

"I.. I thought the song was brilliant, if you're interested. I actually played it a lot."

He glanced up, looking surprised by her admission.

"Really? You thought so?"

"Yes, I did. If I'm going to be really honest, when I realised that I needed to give it back, I went down to Dominic Maestro's in Hogsmeade to get my own copy, but they hadn't heard of The Zombies. Are they a new band?"

Edward chuckled, but he sounded slightly short of breath. He rubbed his temple.

"No, no, they're not. I'm not surprised you couldn't find it in Maestros, or anywhere else for that matter, seeing as.. well, it was an easy enough mistake to make, I guess. A band name like The Zombies is pretty misleading."

Andromeda wondered where he was going with this ramble.

"But they... uh, yeah. They've been around for a while but they're a muggle band so I got the music from home it's fair enough that you couldn't get it in Hogsmeade they don't really play that sort of thing but yeah, that's what it is.

From this nervous cascade of words, Andromeda only really picked up on two phrases. _Muggle band _and _got the music from home. _Oh. She hadn't seen this one coming.

"Oh, so.. it just never occurred to me that you were a mu-" _Mudblood. _The word was on her lips, but she was looking straight into Edward's worried face and she just couldn't bring herself to say it.

"-Muggle-born. That you were a muggle-born". The room felt quiet.

"Yes, well, that I am."

It was rare for there to be a moment of silence in their conversations. Usually, the banter between the pair meant that the silence of the library didn't register. Today, the silence was so loud that it was deafening.

Andromeda's thoughts were all over the place. She didn't especially hate muggles or mudbloods, but she knew that her place in society was not alongside them. And Edward – she liked him, but now he was different. Dangerously different. As much as she wanted to suppress it, one thought kept on popping up in her head. She liked him, yes, but in recent weeks she had been wondering whether she was had reallybegun to _like_ him. Maybe she had, maybe she hadn't. Either way, it didn't matter now. He was a mudblood. _You're lucky you found this out now, _rang out a voice in her head. _Or else it would have been far too late. _She tried to ignore it.

"So it's a muggle band, then? I suppose that makes sense". _Why would it make sense?_ She chided herself. They were a band like any other. But she needed to say something, anything, to stop this painful silence.

"Yes". Edward's monosyllabic answers really weren't helping.

"Right. Well. I thought the song was... nice. Thank you."

He looked pale.

"You're welcome."

Another silence.

"Well, I guess I should be off then. Really should start packing my trunk for Christmas."

She turned and tried not to run for the door. The room felt suffocating, and even though she had been polite, she knew that Edward must have sensed her change in demeanour. She felt shaky and awful, and just wanted to get away and crawl up under her bedsheets for the rest of the evening. If not the rest of her life.

"Wait -". Without thinking, she turned round at the sound of his voice. He looked smaller, somehow, with this increased distance between them. He held up 'Moste Potente Potions' in one hand.

"- Don't you need to renew your book?"

She paused. Knowing what she was about to say made her feel a little sick.

"No thank-you. I think.. I think I'm done with that now. Thank-you".

With that, she practically flung herself out of the door. On the way back to the dorms, she barely noticed a thing around her; even the noise of the school was drowned out by white noise ringing in her ears. After an eternity, she reached the girl's dormitory and went straight to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Looking in the mirror, she noted that her eyes were thankfully still dry, but she had developed dark eye-bags and her cheeks were sallow. She splashed water over her face, and then swilled some of it, hoping to remove the sickening taste in her mouth. It wasn't much use.

When she came back into the dormitory, the other girls were looking at her worriedly. She realised that storming past them into the bathroom wasn't the best way to avoid attention.

"Are you okay, Andromeda?" Morgance asked quietly. Andromeda forced herself to take a breath and compose herself.

"Yeah, I just thought I was going to be sick, that's all. But it was nothing. False alarm."

"Okay, good. Do you need us to get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine, I promise. I might just go to bed now in case anything gets worse."

"Okay, we understand. We'll try to keep as quiet as possible."

The evening wore on, and the four other girls whispered to each other in the darkness as Andromeda pretended to sleep. Even when they too eventually went to sleep, she stayed awake, staring at the fabric ceiling of her four-poster bed. It had not been a pleasant day. However, the holidays were almost upon her, and all she could do was hope that time away from Hogwarts could do her some good.

**A/N: Hello! Sorry it's been a while; I left to go on holiday halfway through writing this chapter, but it's done now! I noticed I got a fair few follows and favourites last week, so welcome to any new people. As always, more are welcome. Please leave a comment if you can - I find it so much easier to write regularly when I know people are reading/enjoying the story, so let me know you're out there! Sorry about Ted and Andromeda this chapter, I felt so mean having to write that. But as they say, the show must go on...**


	8. Black Tidings

Chapter Eight

Black Tidings

December 1968

The Black Manor did not have it's own nursery. In the place of the single, cosy room that the children of most other bloodlines were raised in, was a whole wing, dedicated to the upbringing of the young occupants of the house. Any children were, of course, raised by a governess, and the house-elves were expected to perform any additional duties. The Children's Wing in Black Manor had been built alongside the main estate in the late 16th century, and still retained the grandeur of the era. Passing through the entire wing was a long corridor, containing different pieces of artwork that several generations of the Black family had amassed during their travels. The floors were all made of marble, which slowly evolved in colour, in co-ordination with the sky outside. Large double-doors in this corridor lead off to fourteen adjoining bedrooms; in recent years, the sisters only officially occupied three, but it had not been uncommon for their ancestors to live alongside dozens of siblings and cousins. The three girls, however, had not enjoyed the excited bustle and action that had filled the echoing wing in previous decades. With only each other for company, the Children's Wing was quiet, uncomfortable and worst of all, unbearably lonely. During their childhood, they usually elected to spend their days in the play room room at the very end of the corridor, as they had never been allowed to enter each others private rooms. This was the main reason that Andromeda did not question the frequent arrival of Narcissa in her dorm at Hogwarts – the youngest girl more than anyone felt the strain of being constantly alone.

After the dismissal of their final governess once Narcissa started her first year at Hogwarts, the girls had found themselves in a strange void between childhood and adulthood. As they were all still schoolgirls, they were expected to remain in the Children's Wing, despite the amount of available rooms in the main household. Neither Andromeda or Narcissa particularly bemoaned the fact that they had been barred from the main building. Their parents were always kind to them, but their contact hours were severely limited, which essentially made them little more than formally pleasant strangers. In truth, when they as children were lead by the governess to the parlour each evening to bid their parents goodnight, they never knew what to say to them in the ten minutes they were abandoned in there. The process was forced and awkward, and frankly both girls were relieved to discover that they would continue spending minimal hours in the main living quarters.

For Bellatrix, this was a different matter entirely. At the age of sixteen, she felt herself more than capable of socialising with her parents and their constant stream of guests. However, despite many strained conversations with her father, which mainly took place via letters transported by the house-keeper, she had been unsuccessful in elevating herself to the main household. Instead, she had to continue living in solidarity amongst the childish remnants of her youth.

She scowled at the rocking horse that sat in front of the window in the play room. Narcissa was doodling on an old piece of parchment, and Andromeda was curled in an armchair, reading an old collection of fairy tales. For once, Bellatrix found herself wishing that the holiday could go on exactly as it was at present. She could take the boredom. What she wasn't sure she could take was what was about to happen next. Because this moment of tranquility wasn't tranquility at all. It was the calm before the storm. Any moment now, the boys were going to join them.

Sirius and Regulus Black did not seem to possess any concept of civil formality. Both were still too young to attend school, and Bellatrix sometimes wondered whether they were just left free to roam Grimmauld Place like rodents. The moment they came rolling through the play room door, any optimism concerning an improvement in their behaviour disappeared in a puff of smoke. They both shrieked and sped in, two small balls of tangled black hair and flailing arms. Regulus, successful in momentarily pushing his older brother out the way, dashed to the rocking horse and practically threw himself onto it, sending it swinging in dangerously wild motions. Sirius yelled angrily at him, threatening to murder Spartacus, his pet rat, in retaliation, but eventually gave up and flopped down to sit on top of both Andromeda and her book.

"Hello Andromeda!"

"Hello, Sirius."

"We've come to stay for Christmas! Can I sleep in your room?"

"..."

"Please, Andromeda, please, I don't want to be by myself or share with Regulus – he's _so annoying. _Please? Andy? Ha, did you know your name could be Andy? Andy Andy Andy!"

"Okay, firstly, you need to get off me." Andromeda said, pushing herself up so Sirius was forced to roll off her lap. "Secondly, you're not allowed to stay in my room, it's the rules."

"But-"

"I don't get a say in it. You'd have to talk to my mother or father, or maybe Aunt Walburga or Uncle Orion."

Sirius pouted.

"That's not fair! They _scare _me. I don't want to talk to them!"

Andromeda ruffled his hair.

"How can you be scared of your own parents?"

"Have you _met _my mother? She's so angry, all the time. She's like..." He stopped, thinking up an appropriate comparison. Regulus came flying off the rocking horse and landed with a loud thump on the thick carpet in front of them. He rolled until he became upright once more, and looked at them.

"Like a DRAGON!" He volunteered, and Sirius nodded in agreement.

Andromeda looked around, only to realise that during the conversation, both her sisters had taken the opportunity to leave the play room and return to the sanctuary of their own rooms. Mentally cursing them, she turned back to the boys, who were now crawling over all the furniture.

"You shouldn't say bad things about Auntie Walburga. Especially not when we have the Christmas Eve Banquet tonight."

Her two cousins cried out dramatically, clutching at their faces. Although she knew they were mainly play-acting for her benefit, it made her laugh. She realised, with a start, that she couldn't actually remember the last time she had laughed. So far, the holidays had been overly bleak, but in all honesty, she hadn't felt particularly good since a while before then. She told herself that it was just a case of the winter blues, and purposefully ignored the voice in her mind telling her that wasn't quite true.

"WE HATE CHRISTMAS EVE BANQUET WITH THE ADULTS!"

"WE HATE ALL BANQUETS WITH THE ADULTS"

"WE HATE ALL ADULTS!"

"WE HATE ALL BANQUETS!"

Andromeda smiled, a thought popping into her head.

"You certainly won't hate _all _banquets. Just you wait until you come to Hogwarts. They're the best things ever." Sirius leapt back onto the sofa, sitting on his feet.

"Andromeda! Did you know, I'm almost old enough to go! I'm going to come to Hogwarts with you and we're going to be best friends at banquets!"

Regulus felt the need to cut in.

"And _I'm _coming the year after he does. And then you'll be _my _best friend at banquets!"

Sirius scowled.

"Yes, but I'm going to get there first. And I'm going to get a wand from the big shop on Diagon Alley, and a school cloak, and a hat, and five owls in different colours."

"That's not true!"

"And I'm going to be the best in transfiguration. And potions. And charms. And... all the other things. And I'm going to be Slytherin Quidditch Captain!'"

At this, Andromeda could have sworn that she saw Regulus's face change colour into a hue of dark red. Oh no.

"You're so _stupid, _Sirius. I'm going to be Slytherin Quidditch Captain!"

"Ha, really, Reggie? You can't even catch a quaffle, how are you going to be captain?"

Both boys were flaring up in rage, and edging closer to each other. Andromeda hadn't a clue what to do. She had no experience at all with looking after children. Her curses now extended to her parents for relying on her to serve as their nanny.

"That only happened one time! AND YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THAT!" Regulus roared, and suddenly he was on top of Sirius, pounding his tiny fists down into his brother's face. In an instant, the two boys were rolling away across the nursery, slamming their way through various toys, books, and doll-houses. Andromeda froze, completely helpless.

Thankfully, she was saved by the entrance of Bellatrix, who had heard the commotion from her room. Out in the corridor, Narcissa stood nervously behind her.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Bellatrix shrieked, and the boys stopped in their tracks. With Regulus still trapped in a headlock under Sirius's arm, they turned their heads round to see her.

"HOW DARE YOU COME INTO THIS HOUSE AND ACT LIKE ANIMALS IN FRONT OF US!" Bellatrix screamed, pointing her wand menacingly at them. The two cousins were paralysed in fear and seemed unable to speak. Andromeda wondered whether Bellatrix was acting a little too harshly. They looked genuinely frightened.

Bellatrix, upon observing their fear, seemed to take pleasure in it. Her voice changed, mutating back into the sickly-sweet tone that she had used on poor Wookey on the Hogwarts Express. She slowly advanced towards them, as they shrank away.

"I think you've learnt your lesson here. Let me just remind you, we have evil spirits in this house, and if you get too loud and disrupt them, they'll wake up, come down to your room, and pull out your tongue when you're asleep. That way, you'll never be able to disturb them again."

The boys looked at her in wide-eyed horror. Narcissa decided to join the fun.

"It's true!" She chipped in from behind Bellatrix. "Your Uncle Cygnus and our Aunt Walburga had a second brother besides Alphard, but he was got at by spirits, and when they took out his tongue, he bled so much that he died. Nobody is allowed to talk about it because it makes them really upset, so they'll be really angry if it's ever mentioned in front of them.

Terrified, Sirius instantly looked over to Andromeda for confirmation. Feeling rather guilty, she managed a quick nod of her head.

"And the spirits especially don't like boys." Bellatrix added. "If you two want to stay safe, it means you'll have to only speak in whispers, like this", leaning in and lowering her volume as she spoke. Neither boy uttered a word.

The five cousins stood in ominous silence for a moment. It was interrupted by the tinkling of a bell attached to a string near the door. Sirius and Regulus glanced at it, confused.

"That's our summonings for dinner" Narcissa said, sweeping her hair back over her shoulders. "Are you both ready?"

"... Yes" They replied in soft unison, so quietly that none of the girls were actually convinced that the words had even escaped their lips.

"Then what are we waiting for?" She retaliated and stalked off down the corridor. The rest followed her, the only sound being their footsteps on the hard marble floor.

* * *

Christmas morning began, as always, with Narcissa frantically banging on the doors of her sisters, forcing them to wake up long before the sun had risen. This year, she was accompanied by Sirius and Regulus, who appeared to be on such an adrenaline high, one could wonder whether they had slept at all.

Sleepily tugging on a soft red dressing gown and velvet slippers, Andromeda stumbled out of her room and followed her excited bunch of relatives down into the nursery. Narcissa, like her, had elected to put on an oversized dressing gown, whilst the two boys frolicked amongst the large pile of presents in matching white-and-green pyjamas. Andromeda noticed, with a pang of guilt, that nobody had remembered to put up a christmas tree. It was usually the job of the governess, and since her dismissal, her parents had thought to order the house-elves to do it instead. Today they had no such luck, which made the room feel rather unfestive.

Bellatrix appeared beside her, neatly dressed in a black tunic dress with a white collar. She had also taken the time to fix up her hair into an updo, meaning that for once her face wasn't covered by strands of loose curls. It looked pretty. Andromeda wondered if Bellatrix realised that she'd almost exactly imitated the September '68 cover of _Witch Weekly._

"Can we open them now? Please!" begged Sirius, rifling through the pile of gifts, checking the tags for his name.

"Sure, it is Christmas!" Narcissa replied, and the group all threw themselves into sorting out the gifts between them. Amongst a range of smaller gifts from their parents, Bellatrix received a designer lace-trimmed witches hat, Andromeda a telescope embedded with emeralds, and Narcissa a limited edition box of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and other products.

Both Sirius and Regulus had been gifted matching sets of quidditch uniforms. They instantly put on their 'crash resistant' helmets and started launching themselves head-first at various pieces of wall and furniture, screaming as they did so, all fears of tongue-stealing spirits totally forgotten.

Just then, Narcissa's owl, Medusa, appeared at a window and started pecking until she let her in. Medusa flapped around the room for a moment, then deposited a black envelope on Narcissa's lap. On it, her name was written in metallic gold ink, which unfortunately was so smudged that she could barely read it.

"Who's that from?" Bellatrix asked, as Narcissa turned it over in her hands.

"I don't know. I've already opened the presents from Alice and the other girls, and I don't know why it would be from a relative if they didn't also send something to both of you."

"Open it and find out" Bellatrix ordered.

Narcissa reached for her envelope opener whilst Medusa settled on a perch near the door, preparing herself for a nap. With a sharp tear, the envelope was open, and Narcissa took out the letter inside. She read it, her face contorting with scorn and disgust.

"It's from Travers." She said, drawing out his name as if it were contaminated with leeches.

"What does it say?" Andromeda asked.

"What do you think it says?" Narcissa flared up. "Dear Narcissa. It's Travers, that boy who stalks you from Hogwarts. My new year's resolution is to wash every day so I don't physically repulse every living human and creature within 50 yards of me. I'm also just going to die in a hole, and rise again as a different person, considering how worthless and pitiful I am. Maybe instead of buying you a present, I'm going to get myself a toothbrush. Merry Christmas!"

"I can't believe -"

"I know. I know. It's just wishful thinking on my behalf." Narcissa grumbled, taking out her wand. 'Incendio!" The letter went up in flames, and she tossed it into the fireplace.

"You really need to ditch him, Narcissa" Andromeda attempted. "All he's doing is making you angry."

"It's not that easy." Narcissa sulked. "Once you've accepted that 'relationship' tag, it's like being tied down to a hippocrampus egg. You wouldn't understand. There's no escape. I'm doomed. Forever."

"Stop being so dramatic" Bellatrix snapped, but Narcissa was already in an unshakable sulk, and was determined to carry it through the rest of the day.

* * *

The children received their invite to Christmas dinner with the adults in the main house, so at 4pm sharp, they arrived in the main banqueting hall. Whilst no effort had been made to decorate the nursery this year, the hall was decked out with holly and ivy, bells and baubles, and anything else that the house-elf team could dream up. Cygnus and Druella Black stood, in their finest formal wizarding dress, by the great stone fireplace. Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion stood next to them, and without needing to ask, the five children lined up silently next to them, without any form of greeting. About thirty seconds passed, and then a loud boom emitted from the hearth, followed by the appearance of a tall, lanky figure. Coughing, the man bent down to climb out of the fireplace, and shook hands with Cynus.

"Alphard. Glad you could make it" He greeted him warmly.

"Always a pleasure. Your home looks beautiful, as always, Druella." Alphard replied, turning his attention to his sister, and kissing her hand. In a strange tradition of formality, Alphard made his way down the family line, greeting each member as he did so. The girls greeted him in order of age, Bellatrix first, followed by Andromeda and Narcissa. Upon reaching the boys, the civil greetings came to a sudden end, as Sirius squealed and threw his arms around Alphard's neck.

"Uncle Alphard! Uncle Alphard I didn't know you were coming! Does this mean you brought more presents!" He blabbered, grinning from ear to ear. Walburga looked absolutely dismayed at this breach in behaviour, but Alphard chucked and ruffled Sirius's hair.

"You'll have to wait and find out. We have a dinner to look forward to first!" He said in a warm, deep voice. He grabbed Sirius's waist and hoisted him off the floor with his right arm, doing the same to Regulus with his left. The boys both roared with laughter, kicking their feet in the air.

The girls were far less close with Uncle Alphard than their cousins, which was partly to do with their being at Hogwarts now, but also, they suspected, because the brothers were strikingly similar in appearance to him. If Sirius were to grow out his dark hair a little, he would almost be a miniature clone.

"Boys!" Walburga snapped from down the line. It was unclear whether she alluded only to her children, or to her brother as well. "Do be sensible! The Malfoys will be arriving any second, and I won't have you give off a bad impression".

"Sorry" Alphard said, sounding guilty but stealing a grin towards his young nephews. "We promise we won't do it again."

He took his place between Walburga and Bellatrix, and they resumed their silent focus on the fireplace. In usual circumstances, formal guests would be expected to apparate outside the entrance of the Black estate, but the Malfoys were long time family friends, and as such, they tended to arrive with the floopowder network.

After several more minutes, and just as Orion was beginning to reach for his pocket watch, the rumble of the fireplace alerted the family to the Malfoy's arrival. Abraxas Malfoy arrived first, followed by his wife, and then Lucius. They too travelled along the line, greeting each Black family member as they went.

"I'm so sorry we're late, there was a little trouble with some unexpected guests" Abraxus explained, removing his travelling cloak and passing it to a house-elf as he spoke.

"Not at all!" Druella cut in. "We hadn't even noticed! I do hope there wasn't any problem, we could happily have had a couple more at our table -"

"-No! … no" Abraxus interrupted. "I mean, only to say that it was, how should I say – business related. A little unexpected, but we managed to shake them off soon enough."

Next to Andromeda, Bellatrix tensed.

"But we're here now, and my, how splendid this all looks!" Abraxus said as he finished shaking Regulus's hand. At this point, Lucius reached the girls. He kissed Bellatrix's hand, and sullenly Andromeda held out her own. He took it, saying nothing, kissed it, and moved on to Narcissa, who looked just as disinterested.

At the Christmas banquet, the children were placed at one end of the table, with the adults at the other. A tremendous amount of serving plates, plate-warmers and ice carvings separated the two groups. Much to her chagrin, Bellatrix found herself placed at the very end of the 'child's' side, meaning that she had no ability to converse with her relatives or, more importantly, the Malfoys. Andromeda had been placed opposite Lucius, she assumed because of their small age difference. It was odd. Perhaps as a result of the other girls fawning over him at school, she possessed very little care for him, and consequently made very little attempt at conversation. Likewise, he made only a small effort to talk, but did spend a lot of time looking at her as they ate – the voices of Sirius and Regulus easily dominating all conversation.

After dinner, it was customary for the women to retire upstairs to one of the hosting rooms, whilst the men started on the heavier liquor. As her mother, her aunt, and Mrs. Malfoy rose from the table; the men rising up in polite unison, Bellatrix suddenly stood up too. The ugly scrape of her chair against the floor attracted their attention, and Druella looked at her daughter curiously. Quickly, Bellatrix left her place and strode down the room towards them.

"Bellatrix, darling, whatever is the matter?"

"Mother, I think it's time that I joined the women upstairs"

Druella laughed, her heavy necklace sparkling under the candlelight.

"Darling, you're hardly old enough to be joining the adult conversations. Go back and entertain your cousins"

Bellatrix cast a frantic glance towards Mrs. Malfoy, who did not meet her gaze.

"Mother, I'm sixteen. I think I'm quite old enough. When you were my age, you already had -"

"- Bellatrix!" Druella snapped, her voice turning cold. "That's quite enough. Go back and sit with your sisters until you are dismissed."

Bellatrix looked at her father, her eyes burning into his – a clear appeal to him. He considered the situation. He looked to his seething wife, then back to his enraged daughter. The rest of the table sat by in uncertain silence. Eventually, he relented.

"I can see that you certainly deem yourself ready to join the adults, Bellatrix. However, at this time, it would feel a little short notice."

Bellatrix curled her lip in anger, realising that he wasn't going override her mother's word.

"However, as a young woman, it is perhaps a little unfair to keep you with the rest of the children. As such, if you should wish to relieve yourself of their company, you have my permission to do so."

It wasn't anything near what Bellatrix had been hoping for, and although her father had given her some freedom from her siblings, she was still vastly displeased. She smiled a cold, dangerous smile.

"Thank you, father. Thank you everyone, for this wonderful dinner. Now, if you'll excuse me."

With that, she turned round and stormed out of the room. Narcissa caught Andromeda's eye.

"Oh, she is _so _getting the cane tonight." she murmured into her ear. Lucius was looking at them curiously, probably trying to work out what had just been said. Neither girl acknowledged him.

After the women had left, and the food had been whisked away, Cygnus drew up a few armchairs with a lazy flick of his wand. He, Orion, Alphard and Abraxas all took a seat, and the children obediently sat at their feet, apart from the case of Alphard, where Sirius and Regulus sat _on_ his feet.

As the conversation started up, Andromeda noticed that Narcissa was still wearing the same sulky expression from the previous day. It appeared that the appearance of Travers's Christmas card had somehow managed to ruin her entire season. In a way, she didn't entirely blame her. Boys ruined everything. Travers was a pimple-faced freak with a decreasing sense of boundaries. Lucius stared too much, as, she realised, he was doing at present. And... and boys in general were awful and made everything difficult.

The men had been talking mostly amongst themselves, but now Alphard turned his attention to the younger members of the room.

"So, what are you young trouble-makers up to for the rest of the holidays?"

"We're going to see a quidditch match next week!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yeah, a cup match!" His brother added. "We're going to a really big stadium, with like, twenty hundred thousand and a million people."

"How exciting!" Alphard said. "And you, Lucius?"

Lucius glanced at his father.

"Father and I are touring" he answered. He paused, leaving Abraxas to fill in for him.

"Yes, I'm taking Lucius across the country over the next two weeks or so" he explained to Alphard. "It's about time that he was introduced to some of my contacts." Alphard nodded in understanding.

"And you two ladies?" He asked, turning to the two remaining sisters.

Narcissa was still in a vile mood, so Andromeda took her cue to speak.

"Um, actually, I was hoping that maybe I could go back to Hogwarts for the New Year." The words came out of her mouth before she'd even thought them and she was just as surprised as everyone else in the room once she'd spoken. Why did she say that? To be fair, she reasoned, it wasn't at all a bad decision. The holidays were long and arduous, and the sooner she could cut them short, the better. Narcissa was grumpy and Bellatrix had made it quite clear that she no longer wanted to be associated with her, so why not?

Her father shrugged.

"I don't see that being a problem. We have no more social events this season where your presence would be expected. Let your mother and I know when you are set to leave." He then directed his attention to Abraxas to discuss some old mutual friends.

Orion, who Andromeda was positioned closest to, leant over in his armchair to speak to her.

"You know, Andromeda, if life at home ever gets a bit too hectic for you, you are always welcome to stay a while with us in Grimmauld Place. That said, I doubt it would be too relaxing with the boys around. They'd love you being there, though"

"Thank you, Uncle Orion, but there's nothing wrong at home, I just.. miss Hogwarts, that's all"

"Ah, missing your friends are we? Well in any case, my offer always stands. Just send me an owl if you'd ever like to stay"

"Thank you, that's very kind"

"Any time, Andromeda. Any time."

* * *

On Boxing Day night, as Narcissa wrote a long letter to Ophelia, detailing every horrid way in which that horrid boy had ruined her horrid christmas, Andromeda started repacking her trunk to go back to school. She had resolved to leave the next morning, and had already said her goodbyes to most of the family. That is, except for Bellatrix, who had been missing since she had flounced off during yesterday's dinner. However, as Bellatrix had now completed her set of family appearances, her parents appeared unbothered, perhaps even unaware of her absence. If her older sister didn't appear for breakfast tomorrow, Andromeda decided, she would just have leave without saying goodbye, and send her a note through Odysseus once she'd arrived back at Hogwarts. Checking her room for any forgotten items, she thought that she wouldn't miss Black Manor too much. Like they said, home is where the heart is, and her own heart was set firmly in the beautiful dark castle shrouded in the Scottish mist.

**A/N: Sorry, this chapter took slightly longer than expected, and ****_is _****slightly longer than expected! What can I say, I was having too much fun writing Sirius and Regulus. Anyway, please let me know what you think, and follow if you're enjoying the story. I get super excited (as in, Black brothers excited) whenever I hear from any of you, so even if there's something very small you'd like to comment on, be rest assured that you're making one ff-writing stranger on the internet very happy in doing so:)**


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